BG04-Shore Leave
by VStarTraveler
Summary: While the fleet resupplies in the Timorala system, Starbuck finagles some planet-side leave to finally spend a few relaxing cycles with Cassiopeia but their little furlon takes a serious turn that threatens to ruin their time together…perhaps permanently! Complete!
1. Prologue: Pretty Planet

**BG04-Shore Leave**  
By VStarTraveler

 ** _Summary:_**

 _While the fleet resupplies in the Timorala system, Starbuck finagles some planet-side leave to finally spend a few relaxing cycles with Cassiopeia but their little furlon takes a serious turn that threatens to ruin their time together…perhaps permanently._

'***

 _ **Disclaimer:**_

 _This story is a work of fiction, written entirely for fun and not for profit. This interpretation of the world of Battlestar Galactica is entirely my own, and Battlestar Galactica and all of its various components remain the property of their respective owners._

 _'***_

 ** _List of Characters is now available!_**

 _Due to the length of this story and the cast of canon and original characters involved, it was suggested that a character list might be helpful. Therefore, I've added a "Character Cast" below following this Prologue. There's very basic information for the reader and possibly those new to Battlestar Galactica, with the list and descriptions written to avoid any spoilers._

* * *

 **Prologue: Pretty Planet**

At ease for a rare moment, the man stood at the edge of a large fresh-water lake looking up at the brilliant colors of the sunset as the day wound down in that little corner of that little world. It reminded him of evenings in yahrens past on Caprica, his homeworld, which was now lost to the Cylon invaders.

The thought of the Cylons caused him to momentarily catch his breath, reminding him that, despite the peaceful setting, there could be danger nearby. Reacting to that thought, a quick search confirmed that there were no Cylons there. Relaxing once more, he observed the strange trees and plant life just beyond the shore to the lake as he breathed in the beauty of the planet as well as its crisp, fresh air.

The man was standing on Beta, the second planet from the star known to the Colonials as Timorala. The planet orbited almost dead center of Timorala's habitable zone; as such, it was a prime candidate for the fleet's much needed resupply mission.

The planet had been visited once before, several sectars ago, by a survey team on a scout ship. Both the man and his wingmate had studied their report in detail on their flight to the planet when not on alert or in sleep mode. Based on what they had seen so far, the information the survey team had obtained appeared to be holding up well.

The surveyors had left the fleet aboard the small research vessel almost a yahren before and had visited a number of different systems, searching for worlds with specific types of resources and other criteria, but also with no Cylons or other intelligent life in the area. In that and a subsequent trip, the surveyors had discovered and explored six planets that seemed to meet the designated criteria. According to the survey report, they'd spent ten cycles in the Timorala system, including three cycles exploring this planet.

The survey reports for Timorala Beta had been glowing, with promises of significant native foodstuffs, both plant and animal, that could be harvested and would be appropriate for human consumption. In addition, there were numerous desperately needed raw materials available for the taking. Furthermore, there were portions of the planet with an excellent climate and great conditions for plant growth that could be used to produce significant crops in a matter of a few sectars. Finally, they had found no evidence of biological pathogens that would make Beta dangerous for human visitors, and best of all, no signs of Cylons or other intelligent life. All of that combined with the raw materials available on other celestial bodies in the system made the system appear to be an excellent candidate for a resupply mission.

The man looked up to watch a flock of one of the local varieties of feathered avions flying overhead. One occasionally departed from the group to dive down to try to grab something in the water. He admired the flyers' gracefulness in flight, and the way they tucked their wings and jutted their neck and beak forward on hitting the water, sometimes but sometimes not bringing up one of the various piscons that swam in the water. It reminded him, in a way, of a Viper in a screaming dive toward its target, though the Viper pilot's preferred payoff was often the destruction of an enemy ship or emplacement rather than the flyer's hope for a tasty morsel.

The latest avion surfaced, craned its long thin neck, and swallowed its meal.

"Well done!" said the man softly, not wishing to disturb the graceful creatures.

Smiling at the avion's success, he took a little puff on his fumarello and glanced at his chrono. The local day would end in just a few centons, and many creatures like the avions would go their own way, awaiting the following dawn, while others would come out to live their lives under the cover of darkness, hiding from predators or actually being one. The situation in the wild on the planet actually seemed to offer a number of parallels to the situation in the Colonial Fleet.

The avion suddenly spread its wings and lept from the water. Wings beating furiously, the creature fought its way back into the air to begin the cycle again.

The two men had completed their orbital survey of the assigned part of the planet and had collected meteorological data before activating the beacon. It was a small data gathering station that had been hidden on the planet by the earlier survey team. After collecting the station and some additional soil samples, they had followed the same procedure at three other hidden stations, including the one nearby. These last bits of data would allow Commander Adama and the Council to determine if the fleet would attempt to resupply in the Timorala system or if they would be forced to move on.

With a bit of time remaining before their planned departure, he reached down and picked up a couple of smooth, thin gray stones.

Giving them a quick look, he picked the one he liked best and then sent it spinning out over the water, beyond the narrow zone where the surf washed across the shallows and the rocky beach, watching it skip on the surface three, four, five times before it sank into the water. Taking the other, he tried once again, and again saw nearly the same result, with the stone dropping below the surface with a plop as it hit the water again after the fourth skip. He started to reach down for another but then changed his mind, going into a two-handed stretch that he eventually extended to all four body quadrants.

He was just finishing his stretch with his fingers curled under his left foot while listening to the small waves on the narrow beach, when he heard footsteps approaching. Boomer's voice rang out, "Hey, Starbuck, I've got it stowed and it's almost launch time! You all stretched and ready for the long ride back to the Fleet?"

Starbuck looked up at the two of the planet's three moons that were currently visible as the reds and oranges in the sky mingled with the yellows and remnants of the blue on the setting horizon. He could imagine having a home with a view similar to this sometime in the future, perhaps when the Fleet finally reached the Thirteenth Colony, but for now, the Fleet would be in the Timorala system for a relatively short period and would then move on, with the Galactica remaining home for the foreseeable future. Still, maybe he'd be able to take a few cycles of leave in a spot like this….

Hitting a few keys on his comp pad, he recorded the coordinates of the location, checked his chrono once more, and turned to his approaching friend to say, "Yeah, Boomer, I think it's time. Let's head home."

'***

 **Author's Note:** _Thanks for reading my story! This story was previewed in Chapter 12 of my previous story BG03-The Rescue, and begins a little over a cycle after the end of that story._

 ** _Character Cast:_ **_Due to the length of this story and the cast of canon and original characters involved, it was suggested that a character list might be helpful. Therefore, the list is below, and I've edited the name to maintain the alliterative titles used in the story. Canon characters are in **Bold** ; others are my original characters from this story (BG04), prior stories on this site (BG01, etc.), or from my earlier writing group. The list and descriptions are written to avoid any spoilers. Feel free to consult back to this list as you read, if needed.  
_

 **Adama** — Commander, Battlestar _Galactica_ , and Quorum member; father of Apollo, Athena, and the late Zac, and sealmate of the late Ila  
Anaka — Assistant to Melikie  
 **Apollo** — Colonial Warrior and Captain of Blue Squadron; boyfriend of Sheba, stepfather of Boxey, and brother of Athena  
Arax — Fleet Security officer  
 **Athena** — Colonial Warrior lieutenant, former Bridge officer, now transferred to Red Squadron; daughter of Adama and sister of Apollo.

 **Baltar** — Former Quorum member and traitor who betrayed the Colonies to the Cylons, now a prisoner on the Prison Barge  
Betta — Caden's girlfriend  
 **Bojay** — Colonial Warrior lieutenant, transfer from _Pegasus_ , Silver Spar second in command, temporarily assigned to Blue Squad  
 **Boomer** — Colonial Warrior lieutenant, Blue Squadron, one of Starbuck's best friends  
 **Boxey** — Young son of the late Serina, and Apollo's adopted son  
Brandt — Fleet security officer  
 **Brie** — Female former shuttle pilot, now Blue Squadron Colonial Warrior lieutenant

Caden — Warrior trainee, best friend with Jent since childhood  
Calias — Prisoner on Prison Barge  
 **Cassiopeia** — Former socialator now a Med Tech, studying medicine to be a doctor; Starbuck's girlfriend  
Chadler — Amorous young drunk vacationer in New Hope

Danatron — Sealmate of Ofelia and foster father; friend of Baltar  
 **Dietra** — Female former shuttle pilot, now lieutenant and Blue Squadron Colonial Warrior  
Draegor — Fleet Security lieutenant, Third Watch commander in New Hope

Entella — Female farm equipment Mec Tech/mechanic

Finlay — Fleet Security officer assigned to the Prison Barge  
Fleera — Female farm laborer who works with Rutilius

Grider — Farm laborer who works with Rutilius

Hefasia — Female CW trainee, second in command of Trainee Squad Alpha—Three

 **Ila** — Adama's late wife, mother of Apollo, Zac, & Athena  
 **Imperious Leader** — Supreme leader of the Cylon Alliance and empire

Jenena — Colonial Warrior ensign and female training squad officer in Blue Squadron  
Jent — Colonial Warrior trainee; best friend with Caden since childhood  
 **Jolly** — Colonial Warrior senior flight sergeant in Blue Squadron Warrior and trainer  
Jostine — Young female Colonial Warrior trainee, recently injured; Walrach's girlfriend  
Junian — _Galactica_ 's firing range officer

Karkarian — Forgemaster/engineer in charge of heavy industrial work on Foundry & Forge Ships  
Keeltie — Jent's girlfriend  
Krachus — Colonial Warrior ensign assigned to Red Squadron  
Krixus — Fleet Security investigative tech/forensic technician

Lazant — Colonial Warrior lieutenant transferred from _Pegasus_ , now in Red Squadron  
Lesku — Farm laborer who works with Rutilius  
 **Lucifer** — Cylon IL-Series robot, aide to the Imperious Leader

M742L955-61B — Cylon Centurion  
Martus — Agri-trac operator  
Melikie — Facilitator  
Monoro — Zoologist studying life on Beta  
Mooks — Pudgy, older Warrior trainee with advanced electronics degrees  
 **Muffit** — Boxey's pet mechanical daggit created by Doctor Wilker

Neissy — Assistant to Melikie

Ofelia — Sealmate of Danatron and foster mother  
 **Omega** — Sergeant and aide to Commander Adama on the Bridge, Battlestar _Galactica_

Partha — Former transport operator, now Viper mec tech/mechanic  
Persellus — Farm laborer who works with Rutilius

Rait — Fleet security officer  
Rance — Captain, commander of Fleet Security aboard the _Galactica_  
 **Reese** — Fleet Security lieutenant, Starbuck's nemesis  
Ricks — A doctor from the fleet  
Roda — Assistant to Melikie  
Rutilius — Farm laborer, formerly intercolony trade rep for farm equip company

 **Salik** — _Galactica_ 's head doctor  
 **Sheba** — Colonial Warrior lieutenant, former Silver Spar head, temp w/ Blue Squad; Apollo's girlfriend  
Solon — Elderly science officer on the _Galactica_  
 **Starbuck** — Colonial Warrior lieutenant and Blue Squadron second in command; Cassiopeia's boyfriend

 **Tigh** — Colonel and _Galactica_ 's second in command; Adama's best friend and confidant

Varcan — Colonial Warrior lieutenant, Blue Squadron's non—flying executive officer  
Voleron — Fleet security patrol officer

Walrach — Blue Squadron Colonial Warrior ensign, & trainee squad officer; Jostine's boyfriend  
Wheran — Whitcher's young nephew  
Whitcher — Fleet security desk officer, uncle to young Wheran

Zhili — Blue Squadron female Colonial Warrior cadet officer candidate

 _ **P.S.** Thanks to Metal Navy for pointing out the potential problem with my original placement of this list._


	2. Chapter 1: Sudden Surprises

**Chapter 1: Sudden Surprises**

Commander Adam sat in his office, holding the microphone and dictating into his log, glancing at the monitor occasionally as his words appeared on the screen.

 _In the just over two and a half yahrens since the Cylon attack on the Colonies and our forced Exodus into space, I've never felt that our fleet or our people were safe. In fact, with just over 220 ships and thousands of survivors, the slightest unexpected action could snowball into a final disaster for the human race. After spending a major part of the past yahren escaping from the Cylons, we have finally practiced enough misdirection, laid enough false trails, and skipped enough systems that the probability of them locating us quickly is significantly lower. While nowhere near as low as I would like, the critical needs of our people, along with the political exigencies, finally force us to accept that risk. We are low on almost all supplies, and critically low or even out of so many others. As a result, our people now appear willing to vote based on their bellies, and unwarranted promises of potential abundance by some members of the Council of Twelve threaten to undo all of our successes, leaving us wide open to future Cylon attacks and to our own destruction. Therefore, we must now stop for a period, resupply as quickly as possible, then continue our flight in search of the lost Thirteenth Colony. Failure to do so means our destruction by our own hand. On the other hand, assuming we stop, failure to accomplish our task and move on quickly risks our discovery and destruction at the hands of the Cylons. Fortunately, all of our intelligence and advance scouting, including the long range mission which concluded successfully without incident earlier today, marks this as a system with abundant resources available for harvesting. Equally fortunately, we have confirmed that there is no evidence of intelligent species in the system with whom we might have to contest those resources or by whom we might be commercially or criminally extorted, or Lords forbid, by whom we might even be betrayed to our Cylon foes. The Lords of Kobol have blessed us in this aspect; may they continue to help us accomplish our task quickly and not allow us to get too comfortable in the process._

He took a short break to field a call from Sergeant Omega on the Bridge, and then returned to his dictation after the situation was resolved.

 _On a personal note, I am greatly looking forward to our family dinner this evening. While the dining selection will be somewhat less than desirable due to our supply situation, to have all of my surviving family and a number of beloved friends here with me as our guests on the eve of the start of our endeavor gives me hope for my family and for the future of humanity. Ila would be so proud of them all if she could be here..._

 _'***_

A few centars later...

"Are you really sure the Commander wants me here?" asked Starbuck for probably the third time since he'd awoken from his sleep after returning with Boomer from the long range mission rescouting Timorala Beta. The second planet in the system from Timorala, it seemed to be blessed with an abundance of water and both plant and animal life, and was, from what he had seen, a beautiful planet. In fact, it reminded him of a few of the more appealing of the Twelve Colonies, with slightly lower gravity and no crowds of people. In other words, almost heaven, if not for the risk of discovery over time by the fracking Cylons.

Starbuck gave his dress cape yet another tug, trying to straighten it, but only succeeded in switching it from a few degrees to the left back to a few degrees to the right, in almost the exact same position it had originally been when Sheba had pointed it out. Releasing Apollo's arm, Sheba gave him a little wink as she sighed dramatically for Starbuck's benefit and took over the task, finally getting it aligned correctly.

Boxey, who had grown a great deal in the past two and half yahrens since the Cylon attack and the Exodus from the Colonies, took the question this time, answering, "Starbuck, everyone knows my grandfather considers you a member of our family, like an adopted son, just like me. You know, so you can be my crazy uncle!" Apollo and Sheba both laughed and even Muffit joined in the fun with a couple of mechanical barks. Boxey threw Muffit's ball down the corridor, saying, "Go fetch, Muffit!" The mechanical daggit leaped into a gentle lope down the hall, chasing the ball.

"It's too bad Cassie couldn't join you tonight," said Apollo sincerely. Secretly, though, he was glad in a way that there would be no uncomfortable scenes between Starbuck's current girlfriend, Cassiopeia, and his former girlfriend, and Apollo's sister, Athena. With Athena having moved on, the typical situation was no longer all that uncomfortable, but there were those oh-so-occasional moments when either Starbuck or Athena or Cassiopeia would accidentally say or do something that reminded the other two members of their tight-knit little club of the past. This created what was usually just a moment of uncomfortable silence but it would occasionally result in stares or even outright grimaces. And the discomfort was sometimes even worse for those who were around, even if they had no clue of the earlier relationship!

Starbuck gave a brief shrug, secretly happier than Apollo that the two young ladies wouldn't have to be seated around the Commander's table, even if strategically placed at opposite ends. "It's okay, she has to work second shift tonight. We've had to cancel so many dates recently that I'm just excited that we're finally on for a real date tomorrow night. Once the resupply mission begins, I'm hoping we'll be able to get a few cycles off together, too. Based on what we saw, Beta has some pretty spectacular scenery with so much water and three moons and all. You wouldn't believe some of the wildlife, too! Maybe we'll be able to set up a tent on a beach looking up at those moons in the clear night sky, just the two of us. You know, real shore leave, like in the old-time sailing days."

Apollo laughed, "Yeah, just the two of you and several thousand of your closest friends who all want to do the exact same thing." Everyone except Starbuck had a good chuckle at the thought. "Seriously, if the resupply order is issued at the beginning of first shift tomorrow as everyone is predicting, we should be able to get orders set up so you two can have the time off that you want."

Starbuck and Sheba swapped smiles, since they both knew that Apollo was looking forward to basically the same thing with her. A sharp "Ark! Ark!" from Muffit, returning with the ball, brought them all back to reality. Boxey took the ball and rubbed Muffit's head, praising him, and then turned to Starbuck, "Did you hear about Aunt Athena? She's bringing a date!"

'***

In the Life Sciences Station aboard the Galactica:

Cassiopeia, having started the shift just a short time before, finished checking on her last patient and returned to the Med Tech station. Due to the number of patients in the medical bay following an accident during first shift, two other Techs were also on duty, so Cassie sat down behind her monitor station and opened her medical files in preparation for her next term exam in a few cycles. She checked the schedule and arranged the files with the material, in order of importance. She wanted to cover as much as possible during this particular shift, since with the long-delayed date with Starbuck finally scheduled for the following evening, there would be no studying then!

In the past yahren and a half, she had, with Doctor Salik's help, completed almost two and a half yahren's worth of material, as it had traditionally been taught in Colonial medical schools. Salik was currently in the process of teaching four students aboard the Galactica, each at their own pace, to become doctors, plus, with the help of current Med Techs, about twice that many new techs. Following his lead, several medical officers on other ships had also set up similar small branch schools to train doctors and Med Techs for the fleet using fairly similar guidelines. Looking ahead a few sectars, Cassie knew that there would be some student exchange programs between ships so the students would have the opportunity to learn some of the specialties from those who actually practiced them.

She only been studying for a few centons when a shadow crossed her monitor. Looking back half expecting to see Starbuck trying to surprise her again, she was quite surprised instead to see Doctor Salik looking over her shoulder. "Doctor!" she exclaimed, a bit startled.

"Sorry I frightened you, Cassiopeia," he responded with gravelly voice. "You appeared to be very engrossed in that material for your test. If you keep up your current pace, you'll be one of the first graduates of IMS."

She gave him a questioning look. "Our Interfleet Medical School," he answered. "My fellow doctors and I have been trying to work out the details for how we will be certifying our future medical staff members, and we've finally come to a general agreement on most of the important details. There will still be internships for new graduates using somewhat traditional models, but it means when you graduate and become an intern, you won't have to worry about not being accepted by a doctor on another ship."

"That's a relief," she said, "particularly for when we finally reach the Thirteenth Colony. I hope we'll be able to understand their medicine and that they'll be able to accept us as equals, or at least teach us whatever it might be that we don't know. Doctor Salik, what if we have to study for who knows how many yahrens to catch up with them?"

Doctor Salik nodded, "Yes, Cassiopeia, all of that's been a major concern for me, too. For now, though, we have another, more immediate concern about which I need to speak with you. An assignment, if you will..."

'***


	3. Chapter 2: Disparate Dinners

**Chapter 2: Disparate Dinners**

 _Male Trustees' Mess Hall aboard the Prison Barge:_

The prisoner really disliked mess duty even under normal circumstances. Meals like tonight's, a somewhat soupy rice and bean mixture with a few onions and some bacon and a sprinkle of salt and pepper, left a lot to be desired, particularly in comparison to just about any meal in the Colonies in the old days. Of course, with the current shortages, tonight's actual meal was missing some of the rice, a portion of the beans, most of the onions and salt, plus all of the pepper and bacon, making the serving line even more uncomfortable as the inmates received their pitiful looking portion.

Then there was the usual slab of bread that was often used to sop up the soupy mix and which was distributed by the perennially unspeaking flunky standing next to him in the serving line. It seemed to be even harder than usual, which was probably true considering the shortage of yeast and soda or similar leavening products and the fact that it appeared to have been baked well longer than was actually required. The server would have much preferred a chef-catered meal, which was more in line with his normal status in earlier times, but he had become somewhat used to the bland fare over the past couple of yahrens during his forced confinement. Unfortunately, many of his fellow inmates were not quite as understanding about the food as he was, and so the threats and verb abuse heaped upon him far exceeded the grub he ladled upon their plates.

"'Lord' Baltar, this fracking felgercarb better taste better than it did last meal, or I'll come back and push your smug face in it!" growled the large ugly man standing in front of him. The rather sarcastic use of Baltar's title within the confines of the prison mess hall was just another effort to get a rise out of the former Quorum member; combined with the threat, he could see that the speaker was more concerned about causing trouble and possibly even starting a fight than about the actual quality of the food being served. Seeing the blackshirt in charge of the mess hall alertly monitoring the situation, Baltar quickly decided on his method of responding.

Holding the ladle handle tightly in his right hand with its bowl filled to the brim with the luke-warm soup in case it was actually needed as a weapon to temporarily blind his opponent, Baltar bowed his head slightly and placed his left hand over heart as he replied, "I'm quite sure it must be better, Calias, as we poor prisoners ate all of the spoiled bacon out of it at lunch." Several of Calias's fellow inmates roared with laughter at Baltar's apparent physical deference and his verbal riposte, leaving Calias to snarl slightly at him and move on to get the overbaked brick that passed as bread from the mute and a mug of water from the last server in the line. Baltar noted that the fleet security officer relaxed slightly, but only slightly, returning to his usual state of alertness.

With the line winding down and the trustees seated at the tables, the officer, a man by the name of Reese who Baltar knew was quite experienced with the mess hall operation, gave the three men on the serving line permission to serve themselves and be seated. Hoping that it might be easier to bite since knives were not allowed, Baltar picked up a thinner slice of bread after getting only a small serving of the soup. As he did, he noticed that Reese seemed to be in a happier mood than Baltar had seen him in the several sectons since he rotated back to the prison barge assignment. "Hmm, someone obviously either got lucky last night or is expecting to escape this Hades hole again. Which option is it, Officer Reese?"

Reese chuckled and said, "Baltar, you obviously don't know the women on this boat as well as I figured. Of course, being locked in your cell almost all of each cycle, I guess I understand why..."

"Oh, you wound me grievously, Officer! While I don't get out and about as much as some, I have noticed a couple of female crew members who don't appear to be infected with quite the same degree of crazy as some of those in the female prison wing. I would use the word insanity, but that seems to be a bit too structured for a few of the female prisoners I've encountered during my stay here. Considering that, I take it you're being rotated to another assignment once again?"

The blackshirt laughed lightly again. "So true, Baltar, and yes, where perhaps your first option will follow the second. Yeah, I'll let you know how the planet is...IF I ever rotate back to this particular assignment again." Reese gave him a little grin and rubbed his mustache a couple of times to straighten it before adding, "You'd better eat up if you're going to do it. You've all got to get back to your cells soon."

Baltar waved his fingers slightly as the security officer moved away; whether it was a gesture of goodbye or dismissal, no one could say. Most prisoners would have nothing to do with their guards, but Baltar had found that one never knew just what interesting intelligence might come his way with his natural charm and a bit of luck. He considered the implications of the blackshirt's statement, and carefully filed it away in his mind for further consideration of how he might be able to turn it to his advantage. With only a hint of a sly smile on his face, he took a spoonful of the miserable soup and then slowly bit into the bread, hoping to avoid breaking any of his teeth...

 _'***_

 _Adama's quarters aboard the Galactica:_

Adama's table was set for eight people, with the Commander seated at the end to better see his family and guests. Tigh, Adama's best friend and most trusted advisor, was dressed in command blues like Adama and was seated at the far end opposite him.

Young Boxey had requested a seat next to his grandfather and next to his dad...AND with his favorite (and only) aunt, Athena. Since Boxey was a child and his only grandchild, Adama was glad to accommodate him.

From there, the seating arrangements had become a bit more difficult. Because of their past relationship, Adama had Starbuck seated at the opposite end of the table from Athena, on the same side of the table with her and Lieutenant Sheba, who was seated opposite Apollo. That way, the two "big kids" wouldn't have to look directly at each other unless they chose to do so…and wouldn't be tempted to kick each other under the table.

Unfortunately, that left only one seat remaining, next to Apollo and directly across from Starbuck. Under normal circumstances, that wouldn't have been a problem, but in the case of Athena and Starbuck, nothing was normal, and the fact that the eighth person was Athena's date ran the situation a good distance up the complication scale. To make the situation worse, Athena, who had transferred from the Bridge to flight duties in Red Squadron a little over a yahren before, had chosen to invite a certain Red Squadron Warrior by the name of Lazant. That rocketed the situation to near the very top of that complication scale!

The Commander was a bit puzzled by Athena's choice, but he trusted his daughter to make her own decisions, just as he had when she first requested the transfer. Starbuck, on the other hand, was completely flummoxed at the choice since he and Lazant had never gotten along very well and since, in his opinion, at least, he knew Athena could do so much better! As Starbuck took his seat, he barely avoided a grimace at the thought of sitting across from Lazant for the entire meal. Athena was obviously playing mind games with him, and he was sorry to admit to himself, though never to her or anyone else, that it was working.

Lieutenant Lazant was a bit over 30 yahrens of age, was tall, and had an athletic build. He had deep dark brown eyes that seemed to match his full head of dark brownish-black hair, a thin but short mustache, and a personality about as appealing as that of a hungry lupus under a full moon. He had graduated from the Colonial Service Academy a yahren early, had completed an advanced degree in military tactics, and had then been assigned to serve on the Pegasus under Commander Cain a few yahren before the disaster at Molokai. When the Pegasus had returned from deep space and joined the fleet almost two yahrens before, Lazant was one of the Silver Spar pilots who were transferred to the Galactica. Unlike many of the others who wished to continue serving together in Silver Spar once on the Galactica, Lazant jumped at the chance to transfer to Red Squadron, which was then in the process of being restaffed and rebuilt, to provide a chance for quicker advancement. Sheba, for one, had not been sorry to see him go.

While Lazant was an excellent pilot and seemingly brilliant tactician, his intense drive and personality led many to believe him to be a complete ass, fully amenable to backstabbing his mother (if she had survived the Cylon attacks) in order to gain even a tiny advantage over a competitor. While he was now effectively third in command of Red Squadron, he was currently blocked from further advancement by the Squadron captain, its second-in-command, and some of the senior flight officers on the bridge who kept careful watch over his record and were determined to make sure that he neither caused trouble nor progressed in rank or command. The whispered joke in Red Squadron was that Lazant was considering switching squadrons yet again, this time to form the Black Lupus Squadron, the only self-proclaimed perfect squadron in the Fleet, with Lazant as its captain and only member.

However, there was a curious circumstance that some either didn't know or didn't understand. With Athena's transfer to Red Squadron, many Red Warriors had believed that she was only there for a short period as a resume enhancement tool, soon to transfer back to the Bridge to justify Daddy Adama authorizing her promotion. Lieutenant Lazant, with his sparkling personality and absence of friends, was one of the few people who actually accepted her from the start and had done his best to make her become a real part of the squadron. Despite that personality and his overall abrasiveness, she had greatly appreciated that acceptance and had slowly become his friend and a trusted squadronmate, and sometimes even his wingmate. Almost a yahren later, the two were still friends, and many of the other Warriors in Red Squadron had grown to accept Athena as a full-fledged member of the unit. However, despite his contributions, his attitude kept many of those same squadron-mates from doing the same with Lazant.

The meal had been served following a brief period of generally friendly discussion and drinks. Athena and Starbuck had both been on their best behavior, careful to avoid anything that might ruin the evening, with Apollo and Sheba running interference a couple of times and redirecting the conversation when it had appeared to be about to go in a questionable direction. Athena and Apollo had also taken a turn changing the topic, this time when Colonel Tigh and Lieutenant Lazant broached a tactical discussion on which they apparently disagreed. When Boxey gave a tug on Adama's sleeve and a questioning look, the Commander had quickly tapped his glass to achieve silence, and then had given a statement of thanks to the Lords of Kobol for his family, friends, and the safety of the people of the fleet, and the opportunity for family and friends to join together at his table for a time of food and fellowship. Personally, Starbuck had been quite happy that Adama had gone with food and fellowship rather than the oft-used feasting and fellowship, since in this case, with the current shortage of many types of food, there was adequate food but not all that much that he was particularly excited to be eating. After seeing the beauty of Timorala Beta, he hoped the selection of wild foodstuffs available would be as good as the scenery.

Fortunately, the food at Adama's dinner wasn't bad, nor was the conversation; it was polite and only occasionally was it slightly strained due to Lazant's presence, rather than intimate among family as the Commander had originally intended. Still, Starbuck couldn't fault Lazant for that, since the Commander had invited them to bring a date and Athena had been the one to actually invite the man Starbuck considered to be the oafish outsider. If anything, Lazant's presence had led Starbuck to skip at least one comment that would normally have slipped glibly from his tongue, and to temper another that might have gotten a rise from Athena. "Well," he thought, smiling to himself, "baiting her might have been at least a little bit fun..."

With the meal concluded, Adama rose from his chair and retrieved a bottle of lightly chilled white ambrosa. Starting his way around the table with the women first, he poured a small amount in each flute, giving Boxey a measure of a white fruit drink in its place. "I am blessed to have you all here this evening. We have come so far to this point, battling incredible odds, but now, we find are forced on a course that could mean the difference in success and failure of our continuing endeavor. Therefore, I want to propose this toast to you, my family and friends, and to all those who will be involved in our upcoming venture: May the Lords of Kobol bless each and every soul who strives to aid our cause, who fulfills their assigned tasks efficiently and successfully, and who assists us in continuing safely on our way." Glasses clinked together and everyone drank their ambrosa. Boxey headed off to bed then, and the Adama passed another bottle of ambrosa that normally wouldn't have been served following the white of the initial toast, but the supply situation left him little choice.

When everyone had been served, Adama rubbed his temples and said, "I think you all know that I have serious reservations about this much-needed resupply effort, but unfortunately, I see little choice. We must move forward with it or we risk other dangers. The plans are drawn up, some initial orders have already been issued, and the rest of the orders are ready to be issued at start of First Shift, along with the announcement to the IFB. Colonel Tigh is familiar with it and Captain Apollo has seen part of it, but I'd like to let you all take a look at it and give me your feedback."

Everyone nodded, and Adama started into his presentation, with Tigh stepping in from time to time to add an important detail or two. When Adama was done, everyone was nodding in appreciation and in general agreement with the plan and the amount of forethought and research it must have taken to develop it. There was some discussion and a few questions to clarify points when Lieutenant Lazant, who had been considering some of the potential tactical implications of the plan, spoke up. "Since we will be obtaining raw materials from nature rather than finished products from a commercial source, the fleet will be separated into several groups to allow efficient gathering in various parts of the system. It will significantly cut down the amount of time required for the harvesting operation, but it leaves us very exposed, perhaps lethally exposed, if the Cylons arrive before we are done and have the opportunity to recombine. What happens then?" From the questioning expression on his face, it looked like he felt he'd exposed the soft underbelly of Adama's plan.

Starbuck had already had about as much of Lazant as he could take for one millennium. "Lazant, we'll just have to take the time to get us all together. We'd have to do that before we hyperjump to another system, or we'd never be able to reassemble the fleet!"

Lazant shook his head. "Starbuck, when we're looking at intrasystem travel, some of these ships are a lot slower than others. They're not like your Viper with auxiliary tanks that can go on turbothrusters for long periods and make it over a third of the way across the system in less than a cycle like you and Boomer did. It would take some of the ships well over a secton to do that. With such slow ships, so spread out, that may leave them exposed to wholesale attacks from the Cylons, and while the Galactica is moving off to help a distant group threatened by an attack, other portions elsewhere may also come under attack. My real question is, with the Fleet spread out like this, are we prepared to leave the slower moving parts behind to their fate, or do we risk everything trying to save everyone? Just how much of the Fleet are we prepared to sacrifice to save the rest?"

Apollo jumped in, saying, "Saving only parts of the Fleet means that we would be sacrificing so many of our people, so many of our resources, and so much of our potential. Lazant, sacrificing parts of the Fleet means that we would be giving up our humanity, and possibly losing our ability to continue to defend the rest. We must be able to regroup and escape together."

Lazant still wouldn't concede the point. "Captain, you may feel that giving up part of the Fleet strips us of our humanity, but I contend that not being willing to give up portions of the Fleet may, under certain circumstances, cause us to lose humanity itself!"

'***


	4. Chapter 3: Tangled Tasks

**_Author's Note:_ **_Thanks for reading my story. As always, this is written for fun, not profit, and Battlestar Galactica and all its parts remain the property of their respective owners. If you're enjoying the story or have thoughts about it, your reviews are encouraged and welcomed.  
_

* * *

 **Chapter 3: Tangled Tasks**

 _A short time earlier on a scout ship in a distant system:_

The powerful shipboard scanner had indicated a tiny electromagnetic anomaly on the planet surface below. It was so small it would have been missed by the normal eye, but the electronic surveillance system was being carefully monitored by a very complex computer program that specifically looked for such things, usually filtering out over 95 percent of the "ordinary" data, leaving only the highlights and any data spikes that established overall patterns and non-typical activity, whether natural or artificial. The potentially important information remaining was then filtered through a number of other programs to see if it could be identified. When the analysis was complete, the entire file was forwarded to the monitoring officer, who reviewed the file in detail.

After this process was competed, the monitoring officer was left with a very small and unidentified electromagnetic anomaly, so he quickly searched through the ship's database for anything else that the program might have missed. Due to the complexity of the program, the monitoring officer discovered nothing to add to the findings, so he forwarded the information to his commanding officer, who ultimately sent the information up the command chain.

While the anomaly would probably turn out to be nothing, the scout ship's commanding officer knew that he couldn't take any chances, so he gave the order and a small landing craft was soon on its way down to the planet.

 **'*****

 _In the Life Sciences Station aboard the Galactica:_

With the evening events finally over, a rather perturbed Starbuck made his way to the medical bay to see Cassiopeia. He was doing his best to put the thoughts of the after-dinner argument behind him. What had surprised him most, even after Tigh and Sheba had entered the fray with Lazant, was that the Commander had let it play out as he had, while Athena had remained silent, watching, as if adopting her school teacher persona in front of eight yahren old children. Starbuck didn't understand it, but it was as if she was almost amused, knowing the right answers to the issues the rest were busily arguing. The Commander's raised hand and statement that the situation was already under advisement had finally ended the discussion, but not the concern that Lazant had planted in his mind. As he neared the medical bay, he did his best to bury that seed, and Athena, deep in his mind and out of his thoughts.

After learning more about Adama's plan for the resupply effort, he had decided to schedule some time off with Cassiopeia, possibly even a couple of sectons, perhaps on that secluded, lakefront beach...or perhaps one next to one of the planet's oceans...under Timorala Beta's three moon's, with a comfortable ground mat, a couple of glasses and a chilled bottle of ambrosa...and a fresh box of fumarellos!

She gave him her sweet smile when she saw him enter. "Starbuck! How was dinner with the Commander? And everyone?" Her smile broadened as she saw his face redden ever-so-slightly, knowing that she was probably more comfortable with him there at dinner with Athena than he was himself. When he took a deep breath, she realized it must have been a little more serious than she imagined. "Don't tell me that you and a certain someone got into it in front of the Commander? Starbuck!" she exclaimed as she hugged him close. His arms closed around her and then he kissed her forehead before their lips touched.

Realizing they were at the Life Station, they quickly broke off and Starbuck answered, "Someone, yes. The certain someone, no. It was her date, Lone Lupus Lazant. I've never cared for the guy, but he was just a little—no, make that, a lot—too much tonight. And he and Tigh were more into the tangle than I was! It's just his 'personality,' if you can call it that." A light suddenly activated and began flashing on the station board. As Cassie quickly gave an apologetic look, Starbuck nodded his understanding and concluded, "Yeah, Lazant's personality is equal opportunity. It rubs everyone the wrong way!"

'***

 _On the anomaly planet:_

The anomaly was currently on the planet's dark side, but the commanding officer's orders were to proceed at once. A five centar delay while waiting for the dawn was completely out of the question!

The pilot of the small, box-like craft slowed its vertical descent to a standstill in a steady rain as a bank of powerful landing lights activated below the ship's small protrusions that looked like wings but weren't. Raindrops spattered against the forward and side viewscreens, and the resulting rivulets flowed in odd patterns due to the ship's array of thrusters. A couple of other members of the crew checked the vid monitors to confirm that the chosen landing site was relatively level and appeared capable of supporting the ship's weight, but that was not the case. The terrain actually appeared very rough in the immediate area below the craft, so following their readings and instructions, the pilot slowly maneuvered the craft further away from the anomaly, until the land below appeared to generally level out.

With permission granted, the ship's pilot caused it to again descend slowly, setting it down gently near the edge of a grass covered plain that was only a couple hundred metrons from what the sensors indicated was a watercourse with narrow bands of forest along its embankments. The anomaly appeared to be in that general direction.

It was a cool night with the planet's partially lit satellite overhead, largely obscured by the clouds and the now pouring rain. Three of the five crew members climbed down from their ship and set out to search for the anomaly, leaving the pilot and navigator aboard in case it was necessary to do an aerial pickup of the search team. Considering they did not know the planet, its terrain, or any of its possible dangers, the searchers might easily have waited until the coming dawn in just a few centars, but as their captain had impressed upon them, every centon lost was vital, every centar was important.

The team leader said to the others, "The anomaly is in that general direction, possibly within the treeline. Activate your scanners, and then spread out, 30 metrons to either side of me. We will use the scanners to triangulate the location. Be alert, and be careful in this vegetation. Even with the scanner modification, we may have to walk slowly to be able to detect the signal if it is as weak as believed. It was difficult to detect on our ship with its powerful equipment, so it may be even more difficult here despite the fact that we are almost on top of it."

The other two searchers stated their compliance, and then all three searchers, each holding their scanner in the general direction the leader had indicated, began spreading out to be able to better locate the anomaly. The thick, waving grass was a little over waist high, so the searchers tried to part the wet and gently swaying mass with one hand, while still focusing on the scanner held in the other. Portions of the roots projected above the surface, just above the saturated soil below, as the searcher on the left soon discovered. Scarcely 15 metrons from the leader in the center, his foot caught in the tangled roots, and he fell forward with a metallic clump, disappearing from view in the wet, swaying blades.

"Are you damaged, Centurion?" asked the leader as the fallen figure, a soldier assigned to the mission, attempted to rise. It appeared that he was starting to fall again when he sharply pulled his entangled foot, ripping some of the roots out of the wet ground.

"Only slightly, Leader. One of the seals in my right knee joint appears to have been penetrated by a sharp root causing a rip, and a small amount of water is entering my armor. It is not bad and will hold for correction until we return to our ship."

"Yes, it shall. Carry on, Centurion," said the leader as they continued separating and advancing.

"By your command." A moment later, the being continued, "Leader, it appears that my scanner was also damaged in the fall.

"Centurion, what part of 'be alert and be careful' did you not understand? Your complacency and clumsiness have endangered our mission. If the mission is delayed as a result, you will be severely punished. Understood?"

"Yes, Leader, of course," replied the offending Centurion, with a degree of insubordination in his robotic brain and in the words he used that was not actually conveyed in his tone of voice. Still, he flagged the event in his memory bank, with thoughts of being able to return the gesture to his current superior officer, in the cruelest way possible, at some point in the future if his fortunes ever turned.

'***

Cassiopeia finished assisting her patient, and since both of the other Techs were still involved with a new patient, she checked on the other patients who were either resting peacefully or sleeping. Recording all of their signs took a little while, so she returned to the life station to find Starbuck, with his eyes closed and the unlit fumarello clenched in his teeth, leaning back in a seat with his feet propped up on the edge of the counter. She squelched a grin, putting on instead her attempt at an angry face, and exclaimed in a sharp but low whisper, "Star-buck!"

The Warrior's feet were on the floor and he was standing alert, balanced on the balls of his feet and ready to move, with his hand on the grip of his blaster, ready to draw, before Cassie could blink her widening eyes! Immediately realizing that it wasn't an emergency, he transitioned from the tightly-wound to relaxed-and-friendly Warrior in the blink that finally occurred! Only then did Cassie realize she was still holding her breath from the display. She released it slowly. "Sorry, Starbuck, I really didn't mean to startle you. I just didn't want any stray microbials from your boots all over the Life Station counter and risk spreading infections to the patients."

He shook his head lightly. "It was my fault. I think I'm still a lot more tired from the mission than I imagined. Give me the cleaner and I'll get this cleaned right up."

She smiled at him and replied with a laugh, "Unh-unh. And have Doctor Salik catch me not following proper cleaning procedures? He was here earlier this evening and could be back at any time, so we're not taking any chances!" She retrieved the cleaner and started scrubbing it down, and then handed the swab to her lover as she picked up another for herself. His eyes widened in surprise.

"I thought you said—?"

She laughed lightly again, gave him a little kiss on the cheek, and said with a grin, "I didn't say you couldn't help." Taking the swab, Starbuck started scrubbing, too, right by her side, using the same motion she used, until he suddenly slipped his arm around her and pulled her close. Their lips met, tongues briefly exploring, until Cassie gently pushed him away. "You, goof! We're never going to get this done if you keep that up! Now, we start over to make sure it's completely disinfected. Clean, my sweet Warrior! CLEAN!"

Starbuck smiled at her, "Yes, my dear!" And with both of them working the top under Cassie's practiced eye and drillmaster stance, it was quickly complete and declared clean once more.

"Now," she said, "tell me what happened at dinner…."

'***

It had taken a while using the two remaining scanners, neither of which seemed to be able to detect the signal for more than a few microns at a time, but the three searchers were finally converging at the edge of the alien trees that bordered the river. Both scanners were pointed at a small mound, loosely covered with leaf blades and a moss-like substance, near the base of one of the tree-plants. Approaching slowly and drawing his sword, the leader carefully inserted it into the plant matter and slowly pulled it up and away to reveal a small brown cube, approximately 35 to 40 centimetrons in length on each side. When it was completely uncovered, it could be seen that there were several small holes with small, downward-hooked tubes on one side.

"What is it?" asked the third searcher, also a centurion soldier, looking at his companions. "Do you think it is a weapon?"

The leader replied, "Unlikely. Hidden in the middle of nowhere, it has no opportunity to be used. What good would such a weapon be? Even Colonials, if they were indeed responsible for this device, could not be that stupid." Pointing to the tubes without actually touching them, he continued, "No, these appear to be some type of sensors, perhaps devices for detecting something. Still, we will scan it for any sign that it might be dangerous, just in case they are less intelligent than we believe."

Every available scan was then utilized and nothing was discovered that it might be in any way dangerous. Therefore, the damaged searcher, sensing the opportunity to make up ground against the leader, spoke up, saying, "Let us send an image of this device to our ship. They may have more experience with it than those of us here, or possibly other ideas that may assist us."

"Agreed. Proceed, Centurion."

Moments later, an image was uploaded to the orbiting vessel. There was a short wait, when the voice link activated and the ship's commanding officer began speaking, "Based on the small tubes, our science officers believe it is some type of weather monitoring station. The device may be invaluable in helping us determine the Colonial's plans, so you are to retrieve the device and bring it to our ship so it can be analyzed and dismantled. It may help lead us to the Colonial Battlestar and the ships that service it."

"By your command."

'***

When Starbuck completed the short version of the dinner disaster, he added, "When Commander Adama gives the order in the morning, I think I'll be requesting some time off for a nice long leave on the planet. I've got almost a sectar of leave time saved up, so we might be able to spend up to a couple of sectons together in the most amazing place we've seen since the Colonies. Of course, that means that you need to request the time off so we can spend it together!" Starbuck was expecting Cassie to be as excited as he was, but he was surprised when she looked down, as if disappointed about something. Thinking he might have pushed her too hard, he gently turned her face up toward him with a forefinger under her chin. Seeing tears in her eyes, he asked gently, "What's wrong, Cassie? I thought you wanted this as much as I do?"

Seeing him misreading the situation, she shook her head, saying "No, Starbuck, no! It's not that. It's...it's Doctor Salik. I told you he came by earlier this evening while you were at the Commander's dinner. Commander Adama had already given him the advance copy of the orders, so he was working on putting the staff together for the field hospitals on the planet. I'm not going to be able to take any leave to go down to the planet because I'll already be there. He said we're severely short-staffed, so he's putting me in charge of one of the field hospitals for most of the duration of our stay! I won't be able to take any time off!"

'***

It had taken a while, but the three searchers were able to retrieve the box and carry it to their landing craft, carefully traversing the rough ground and passing through the ocean of waving blades. After finally reboarding the small vessel, they stowed the mysterious box so it wouldn't shift or be damaged during the flight into orbit to rendezvous with their mothership. Then, they took their seats and strapped themselves in for takeoff.

Having a moment as the ship was being prepared for takeoff, the damaged centurion raised his leg, turning it slightly, so the water trapped in his lower extremity might run out through the tear in his seal. Only a small amount actually emerged through the tear, so he turned to the comm unit next to him and scheduled a maintenance and repair request for when they arrived on the scout ship.

Engines whining, the ship began rising upward, slowly at first, and then picking up speed. With his foot raised upward in front of him, the increasing acceleration was soon pushing more of the water backward, through the tear, where he collected it with a small suction device. Cylons were not affected by acceleration as were some lesser creatures like humans, so while the damaged Centurion knew the acceleration was occurring and was reaching several times the planet's base gravity, he felt no discomfort. In fact, if the device turned out to be Colonial as believed, it might turn out to be a good trip after all despite his issues on the surface.

Unfortunately, while the Cylons were not affected by the acceleration, the mysterious box itself was. The Colonial designers of the device, fearing that it might eventually be captured, added a failsafe mechanism intended to prevent it from being useful to the enemy. As the acceleration continued, it eventually exceeded the planet's gravity by a stipulated amount, which activated a small internal timer. One centon later, the box exploded. While the small, hermetically sealed solenite charge wasn't very big, it was big enough under the circumstances to cause a rupture in the landing craft, which caused the ship to rip itself apart, shredding the craft into pieces that were soon falling back to the surface far below. As the damaged centurion, who had survived the initial blast, fell toward the planet, watching it grow ever larger with no way of stopping his momentum, he suddenly thought to himself that revenge on the landing craft leader would no longer be required. He was only metrons above the surface when he also realized that he would not be able to keep his appoint—

'***

They had taken a long walk through the corridors of the Galactica following the dinner, agreeing to put that discussion behind them. When she declined a stop for a drink in the Officer's Club, they continued on, arm in arm, remaining mostly silent, thoughtful, taking comfort from the presence of the other. Still, to Athena, that strong arm, while comforting, was the arm of a friend, a squadronmate, almost a brother, and not something more. As they approached her quarters, Athena knew she had one more thing she had to do.

Lazant stopped and turned toward her and his hands slipped into hers before she knew what was happening. "Athena, thank you for inviting me tonight. I'm sorry if I caused part of it to be a bit strained, but I thought it was a lovely evening with an even lovelier lady." His eyes focused on hers, questioning, and somehow, seeing him almost looking into her soul, she found herself completely unable to say what she'd planned to say, what needed to be said.

Instead, she stammered, "Ah…ahem…thank you for escorting me, Lazant. I…I enjoyed it, too. It's late, though… and we'll have lots to do tomorrow…."

He nodded. "Goodnight, my lady," he said as he lightly kissed one, and then the other hand. He was starting to release them, but Athena surprised him by giving him a little squeeze with both hands, and then leaned in and gave him a very light kiss on the cheek.

"Goodnight, Lazant," she said, and she disappeared into her quarters, alone.

'***


	5. Chapter 4: Leave Laments

**Chapter 4: Leave Laments**

 _Seventeen cycles later:_

Apollo was standing in front of the Blue Squadron mission room, having just completed assignments for the current and coming cycles, including updates on the long range patrols searching for any sign of Cylon activity. Then, he reached down on the lectern and picked up a thin file. "As you all know, Commander Adama announced in his broadcast to the fleet a couple of sectons or so ago that we would be setting up short, planet-side leaves after the ground bases were established and the resupply effort was well underway. This is now moving forward-"

He was interrupted by a round of clapping and even a few catcalls. Letting his squadron members blow off steam for a few microns, he then raised the file, shook it in his hand, and continued, "Here are leave assignments sent from the senior flight staff on the Bridge. The good news is that everyone in this room has been granted two cycles of leave on Beta. You'll be off duty while there, to rest, relax-"

There were a few suggestive sounds, which brought laughs.

"-or whatever." That brought more many more laughs and more catcalls. Apollo resumed with a more serious look, "The bad news is that the 'assignments' were basically printed off from the computer based on a command algorithm so we'll always have higher ranking officers available in each grade, so it may not make a lot of sense to some of you. The worse news is that while you're on the planet, you will be on call and must be ready for duty in less than five centons since we'll have a flight of Vipers on the ground ready for immediate takeoff."

That brought a round of boos that was quickly stifled by Apollo's look. Continuing with the serious expression, he said, "They'll be there for use in protecting the fleet and our people, which is why we do what we do. As for the leave, we're lucky to be getting it at all," and a number of Warriors nodded in agreement. "Now, as I said, these are leave assignments, but they're not finalized yet, since I know some of you have plans to take your leave with someone else." More catcalls and whistles. "Therefore, those of you planning to do that, get with your leave partner and then work together to swap leave periods with someone of equal rank if it fits your plans better. Those who don't have specific partner plans, please try to work with those who do. When you have an arrangement set up, get with Lieutenant Varcan, and he'll approve any swaps and make the changes on the master schedule."

Varcan, Blue Squadron's executive officer had been assigned to the squadron for almost a yahren, so he was familiar with the routine. He was not flight rated due to physical issues, but he was a very good and serious officer, who wanted to do his very best to help the squadron run efficiently. As such, he added, "If it's not on that schedule, it's not official and I WILL find you!" There was mixed laughter at that, since most knew it was primarily directed at Starbuck, who had repeatedly butted heads with Varcan soon after he came aboard. Fortunately, for the good of the squadron and as an example to the younger Warriors who had been trained aboard the Galactica and were just joining squadrons, Starbuck had since gritted his teeth and been a good example...for the most part. He grinned, and Varcan smiled and waved off the few boos also coming his way.

A couple of centons later after Apollo had closed the meeting, Starbuck walked up to look at the leave schedule. Cassie had told him that she'd be on the planet for the first half of the scheduled stay, and that she'd then be replaced and would return to the Galactica. Varcan handed him the list and Starbuck scanned down to his name and a frown crossed his face. He'd have to speak with Cassie to confirm it, but from what she'd told him, this wouldn't do! She'd be back on the Galactica before he ever got to set foot on the planet again!

'***

 _On Timorala Beta:_

"Steady. We're almost done. Just a little further and you'll be ready to go."

"I really don't like the skin clips," replied the patient on the table. His friend Rutilius stood next to him holding his arm to keep him steady, but shaking his head as if making fun of him for being such a wimp. Both men were dressed in traditional agro-farmer clothes since they'd been in the field working when Persellus was injured. They'd been sent to the larger temporary town a short flight away for the injury to be treated.

Rutilius had been watching as Cassiopeia was treating his friend and fellow co-worker, all the time feeling there was something about this young woman who reminded him of someone, possibly from his travels before the Exodus. The man was a former intercolony trade representative for a farm implements company, going from agri-farm to agri-farm selling his firm's products. He'd grown up on an agri-farm as a boy, but wanted to get out and see the colonies. He sold on Leonis, his home planet, for a while, but eventually made it off planet with a larger firm and started going from planet to planet, often for several sectars at a time. As a highly specialized trade rep, he got to wine and dine large agri-farm reps, which had made him relatively well-off over time. Unfortunately, he lost everything in the Cylon attack, and had no highly demanded skills, so Rutilius eventually made it to the Agro ship where he used the knowledge of his youth and of farm equipment to find a position. He'd done well aboard the ship, and was happy to generally be in charge of a laborer team instead of having to perform all of the labor himself.

Cassiopeia looked at Persellus, the patient, and replied, "You know, I don't particularly care for skin clips either. Receiving them or giving them. But you know what? If I was to send you back out of here with this wound just closed with Skin Seal, you'd most likely rip it back open tomorrow and be back in here getting it done all over again a little later, which significantly increases your chance of infection. We've not found any microbials here that really affect us, but you never know when a bad one's going to turn up, right?"

Persellus nodded, "You're right, Doc. Okay, can we get this over?"

"Let's do it! But don't let Doctor Salik hear you call me that. I'm just a Med Tech, though I am studying to become a doctor someday. I still have a good way to go, though, before I get there. That's why we have the medical shuttle on standby. Anything more serious than I or our other shift Techs can handle gets evacuated to the Galactica." Cassie irrigated the remainder of the wound, suctioning out the cleansing fluid as it drained from the end of the cut. Then, she slowly applied the bead of Skin Seal as she pinched the wound shut, a bit at a time, holding it while the organic glue set. When it was done, she used the clip device to apply a number of the small staple-like devices. There was a small amount of blood at each clip, which she soaked away with fresh gauze. She quickly applied an antibiotic at each location, and then added a sterile covering. "There, all done! How does it feel?"

The wounded man nodded, "Doesn't feel too bad. Doctor Salik may not think you're a doctor yet, but I thought you did a great job."

"I agree," declared Rutilius. "You probably won't even have a scar out of this." Looking at Cassie, he asked, "Just how long have you been a Med Tech?"

Cassie replied, "I had a bit of Med Tech background before the Exodus, but I finished the rest of the course on the Galactica. Doctor Salik has been a great teacher."

"Really?" replied Rutilius, "You were so good at it, I would have figured you'd been doing it for yahrens! Of course, you're so young, it couldn't have been too many yahrens."

"Why thank you!" she said, smiling warmly at him. She turned to Persellus and said, "You need to recover for two cycles before returning to work or, despite the skin clips, you may hurt yourself and make it worse..."

Rutilius was no longer listening to the conversation since it was then, that smile that the Med Tech had given him and her expression at that particular moment, that it struck him like a hammer! Rutilius had carefully controlled his expression, smiling back at her, but his mind was no longer on what she was saying, but on something long ago and far away, an identical smile on an identical face. As Cassie completed her discharge instructions to Persellus, Rutilius continued smiling with a smile that meant far more than she knew. Already knowing the farming schedule for the foreseeable future, he also knew that he would have to do whatever it took to get more leave to come back to this place to see this woman once again.

'***

Warrior Trainee Squad Alpha-Three had just finished the early cycle hand-to-hand combat training class with a few members of the Colonial Marines. Grabbing their training packs and water bottles, Ensign Walrach, the squad's junior training officer and youngest member of Blue Squadron (which explained how he'd ended up with the choice assignment), announced that they had ten centons to report to Senior Flight Sergeant Jolly at the firing range. Walrach had developed the reputation of being one of the top small arms marksmen on the Galactica so he was looking forward to once again showing the young trainees, several of whom were actually older than he was, how it was done. Walrach was rushing them along at double time for the exercise and to make sure they made it on time. He caught a rather perturbed look from Trainee #4, but he ignored it as usual. Fortunately, she'd fully recovered from her recent injury so she could keep up like the rest of them. If they had any spare time after training ended that evening before bedtime, he'd accept whatever complaints she'd rain down on him then.

"Number 5! Pick up the pace! If you'd cut back a bit at mealtime, you wouldn't have quite so much to carry!"

Mooks, breathing hard, replied, "Sir, yes, Sir! But I'd rather just dump this training pack, and then I wouldn't have so much to carry either, Sir!"

Walrach knew that Mooks wasn't in the best physical shape and had been borderline on the physical exam every two sectons, but he was extremely smart and was doing well in the SIM training and most other aspects of the Galactica's Warrior training program, so Walrach was determined to keep pushing him to make him succeed. "Carry on Number 5! Pick it up, pick it up! And keep carrying that training pack, too!" Mooks moved a bit faster, which pushed the entire squad at the slightly better pace.

They reached the range with almost two centons to spare, Mooks gasping for breath but indicating he was okay, and the rest breathing at least a bit harder than usual.

The range exercises went well, with the trainees doing some review work, demonstrating their knowledge with several types of weapons in the training room while the previous group of trainees, Gamma-Three, was finishing exercises on the firing line. As the last of the training weapons were secured in the lockers, Senior Flight Sergeant Jolly, announced, "Today we'll be focusing our firing practice solely on blaster pistols, a Warrior's primary small arm. All of you have mastered the Mark 4 assault rifle, have done target practice with the blaster, and have fired all of the weapons we just reviewed, so we want to start practicing the next important steps. Before you can fire your blaster, you have to draw it from its holster, so we're going to learn the proper way of doing that to avoid inadvertently shooting your foot off or shooting someone else in the process."

Caden and Jent demonstrated a quick-draw move with a finger pistol, which drew laughs from the rest of the trainees. Jolly shook his head, "No, we're not talking Captain Apollo fast drawing either, just getting it out safely. Therefore, we're going to practice safe drawing, and once you've mastered that, safe drawing and triggering. Once you get that down correctly, we may actually load the weapons so you can draw and fire for real, but that's only IF you all get it down right as we go. We'll be getting into more advanced actions in the next couple of sectons. Quick draws are quite some time away," which drew groans from the young men and a knowing smile from Walrach, who didn't allow his blaster to leave his side during waking centars.

"Now, step back while Range Officer Junian places a holstered blaster in front of each of you, and let's review the three primary firearms safety protocols." The trainees went through the rules and their corollaries before Jolly continued, "These weapons in front of you are NOT loaded, but based on the rules we just discussed, you are not to just take my word for it. On my order, you are to secure them, keeping them pointed downrange with your finger off the trigger, and confirm their unloaded status prior to returning them to the holster and belting the holster in place. Proceed..."

With weapons checked and secured, the trainees began to put on the holsters. Seeing the young ladies pulling the belt as tight as it would go, Jolly added, "Hefasia and Jostine, you two may have to adjust the holster length with the secondary buckle on the inside to get a proper fit due to your waist size."

There was a laugh from Mooks as he showed that the belt of his holster was in the last hole and he was obviously sucking his stomach in a bit. "Ah, Mooks, looks like you'll have to do that, too, except in the opposite direction!"

One centar later, the exercise was over and the weapons were returned to the armory, so Jolly had the trainees take a seat in the training room. "At ease. Guys, a couple of you requested to ask questions earlier. Shoot."

Caden glanced at the others and then said, "Sergeant Jolly, we've heard that Warriors will be getting two cycles of leave on Beta. We're Warrior trainees, so we're wondering if we'll be getting any leave there, too?"

Hefasia nodded, indicating that she had the same question.

Jolly nodded slowly, "That's about what I figured. The answer is yes, you will be getting some leave, but it will be in conjunction with planet-side training. Three cycles from now, Warrior trainees from all three squads will be going down to the planet for special ground-based training exercises. You'll be issued your equipment and supplies tomorrow after your last class, and we'll review use and packing in an extra class tomorrow evening."

Groans filled the room, but Jolly squelched them with a hand and continued, "Once we get to the planet, we'll be visiting several special areas for specialized training that's just not possible on a Battlestar or anywhere else in the fleet, for that matter. We have selected three main training areas, so you'll be getting a cycle of leave between areas 1 to 2 and another between 2 to 3. The three trainee squads will be rotating between the areas, and may even have some joint exercises or competitions along the way. Any other questions? Good, now, off to your next class!"

As they double timed to the next class, the young trainees were discussing their upcoming assignments and the promised leave. Caden and Jent in particular said they sure hoped that they'd be able to see their girlfriends during that time, but they were complaining that it would be several more sectons before they even got the first cycle of leave. What if the girls couldn't be there during the same period?

Walrach tuned out their complaints, not saying a word, but glancing at Jostine and seeing her little grin at him, he knew those sectons couldn't pass quickly enough!

'***

Jolly looked at the young lady sitting in the back of the training room. She was flipping through some files, but on seeing him, she put them in order and stood to meet Jolly as he approached. "Hi, Ensign Jenena. So that's Alpha-Three squad. Since you've been assigned to take over as its new junior training officer in place of Ensign Walrach when we go down to the planet, do you have any questions?"

"I know you haven't told the trainees yet, but has the Captain told Walrach yet? He's put so much into this group, and it's going to hurt him to be relieved like this."

"Captain Apollo will be speaking with him soon..."

'***

 _Later that same cycle aboard the Prison Barge:_

It had taken almost two sectons of careful grooming, but the replacement security guard had finally responded to Baltar's subtle overtures. Unlike Officer Reese, the previous guard who was just a bit too honest to be of use to him, the new guard seemed like fertile ground, not even realizing it was happening. Officer Finlay just seemed to have that special edge that could ever so carefully be honed to Baltar's own advantage.

Following dinner, a meal that featured a rather generous portion of carved roast processed from one of the local planet's herd animals, sliced tubers that supposedly came from the planet, a small salad of greens from the fleet's gardens, and a slice of the ubiquitous and always horribly hard prison bread, Baltar approached Officer Finlay and asked, "Oh, Officer, might I be of assistance in helping with the cleanup? I've learned to be pretty good with the mop vac, if I do say so myself."

Finlay was vaguely puzzled at the offer for a moment, but realizing that an extra pair of experienced hands would help complete the work faster and possibly let him get the last prisoners back to their cells a little faster, he quickly agreed. "Why, thank you, Baltar."

"Think nothing of it, Officer Finlay. Just glad to be of help, so think nothing of it," he replied, while in his mind, his actual thoughts were quite the opposite, "Soon, Officer Finlay, soon, you will be repaying the favor! And perhaps then, sometime soon after that, I will be leaving this stinking prison vessel for the last time!"

'***


	6. Chapter 5: Friendly Finagling

**Chapter 5: Friendly Finagling**

Starbuck had spoken with Cassie late that evening after the leave announcement was made, but by necessity, since he was doing it from the Bridge courtesy of Omega, their call had been short and not very private. Everyone around the comm station seemed to be listening! It was just as he'd thought, his leave was after Cassie's planet-side duty would be over, and due to the extended nature of her posting, she would not be given a separate leave. After a tender goodbye, despite those eavesdropping, Starbuck walked away knowing that he had some serious work to do.

It was late the next evening when he finally had time to sit down for a drink in the Officer's Club and look over the leave list carefully. He made a number of notes as he went. A short time later, he drew a series of connecting lines between names on the sheet. Crossing a couple off, and scribbling out one of the connecting lines, he replaced it with another line, and then, with a smile, he circled one last name. If he worked this just right, it might actually work! It was time for bed, so he rose from his table in the corner and headed back to his quarters.

As he rounded a corner, he smiled when he was surprised to see the very first name on his list heading in the same direction. "Hey, Boomer, hang on buddy!" Starbuck ran down the corridor to catch up with his friend.

'***

It was early morning on what promised to be a warm summer day on the planet. Rutilius, Persellus, Grider, Lesku, Fleera, and three new members of the team that Rutilius didn't recognize were seated in the land-ram on the way to a couple of fields outside Agri-Community 1 to apply a liquid mix to the vegetable and fuma leaf crops. It was an organic mix that would supposedly eliminate any weeds or insects that might bother the rapidly growing plants, and help them grow better. Grown from seeds aboard the Agro Ship, the resulting small slips, somewhat larger and hardier than mere seedlings, had been set out almost three sectons ago and were now growing by leaps and bounds in the fertile soil under the Timorala sun, and it was time for their first treatment. The team had performed the same task on several earlier fields over the past few cycles, and were scheduled to be going to more fields the following cycle. An agri-ram with a large tank strapped to the bed was following the land-ram, with the mix and all of the spray equipment. Rutilius looked out the window as they passed yet another field.

Grain crops in the fields they were currently passing were also up and growing rapidly, but there was no option to grow them from slips or seedlings. Instead, the existing fertile plain had been clipped extremely short, and then planted with fast growing seed using no-till planting methods. The planter cut small grooves in the ground, inserted the seeds in measured rows, fertilized and watered them, and then resealed the grooves with a thin coating of mildly compacted soil from the initial groove cut. With the groove cutters closely spaced, the seeds were spaced at an optimized distance based on calculated local conditions. The presoaked seeds germinated in a matter of two to three cycles rather than seven to ten cycles like usual, and the small plants were then on their way. More fields were scheduled to be planted each cycle for one more secton, after which, it was felt that any additional crops would take too long to mature before the Fleet had to leave the system.

While there had been a number of agri-tracs, tillers, planters, and assorted other pieces of agricultural equipment on vessels in transit between various Colonies at the time of the Cylon attack, other much-needed equipment was not on order by Colonial farmers at the time, so the current farming operation was a strange mix of modern and pre-industrial methods, and the modern equipment that was present was wearing rapidly from overuse and the constant modifications needed to mechanize as much of the work as possible. In fact, one of the agri-tracs used to do the initial clearing was currently stalled at the edge of the just-cleared area for the next grain field, with the operator waving his arms at them as if needing help. Rutilius, a former equipment representative for a manufacturer back in the Colonies, had the driver of the land-ram stop so he could go take a look. He was really in no hurry to return to the spraying operation of the previous cycles, and thought, just perhaps, he might actually be able to help with the stalled agri-trac. He jumped out of the land-ram and crossed the field to take a look, with several other laborers right behind him.

The operator said the agri-trac had just stopped without warning, which Rutilius believed could be from any number of issues. A couple of centons later, he was still staring at it intently, as if trying to divine the actual source of the problem. When the Lords refused to offer any insight into the situation after a rather extended period, Rutilius was finally forced to admit defeat and move in to take a closer look at what he knew to be some of the more common issues that might have caused the machine to stall with this particular make of equipment. That this monstrosity came from a different, and somewhat inferior, maker left him guessing that there were many more possibilities than he would have liked.

With his back to the others, Rutilius wiped some grease off a lube point, and smeared it across his hands, and then turned to look at the rest of the group standing around the vehicle. "Okay, everybody, this looks like it might be part of the problem, but this may get messy and may take some time. All of you head back to the land-ram and get on with the spraying operation. Since I'm experienced with agri-equipment somewhat similar to this, I'm going to stay here to try to fix it, but Persellus, just in case I can't, call the Mech Techs when you get to the ram, and let them know we have a problem here. I'll catch up with you later today after we get it resolved."

The others did as they were told, griping that Rutilius got all the good assignments while they were left with the backbreaking effort carrying the spray tanks. Rutilius laughed as he waved them off, and continued looking at the area under the cowl, jiggling a few parts and checking to make sure everything was tight. After finally watching the group reboard the land-ram and then head off, Rutilius finally backed away a bit and stretched mightily, feeling his back suddenly feeling better than it had in several cycles, knowing that he would not be lugging one of those heavy tanks that morning, and possibly not that afternoon either. The crisp clean air smelled wonderful, except for the scent of used grease. Wrinkling his nose, he realized that he still hated that grease as much now as he had as a child on the agri-farm. Bending down, he started to wipe the grease off his hands onto the short clipped vegetation.

As he did, the agri-trac operator went over to where Rutilius had been looking. Frowning, he looked at the parts under the cowl and asked, somewhat skeptically, "Do you really think that might have something to do with the problem?"

Rutilius, having gotten as much of the nasty grease off his hands as he possibly could, sat down on the ground next to the large treaded tire facing the morning sun, and, just before tilting his hat low over his eyes, he said to the operator, "You know, anything's possible."

'***

The next evening aboard the Galactica, four Blue Squadron Warriors sat around a table in the squadron's common room, with a number of other Warriors gathered around. In the center of the table was the small buy-in pile of cubits. Jolly was up, so he called for four cards, discarding the ones he didn't want to the center of the table. Bojay thumbed four cards off the top of the deck sitting on the table next to him and pushed them over. Jolly picked them up, did a little rearranging, and then quipped, "Not my hand. I'm out!" as he pitched the rest of his hand face down to the center to join the others, and then he sat back to watch the others as he enjoyed his ale since he'd be leaving on the training mission the next morning.

"Dietra?" prompted Bojay looking at the next player.

"Hmm, I'll take three," she said, discarding three as she did. She fidgeted slightly as she arranged the replacements Bojay passed her. "I'll raise ten cubits," she said, pushing part of her stack into the middle of the table to join the others. This raised a murmur from those watching, along with some nods.

"You go, girl!" called Lieutenant Brie to her friend.

"Starbuck, you're up."

Starbuck's plan had gone pretty well so far, with him being able to make three leave swaps, including one with Brie, that got him into Cassie's on-planet timeframe, but it still wasn't the extended leave he'd initially promised her. For Warriors to be allowed to take just two cycles wasn't what he'd expected, particularly considering how much leave he had coming! Now, it was getting late and everyone had already signaled that this would probably be the last hand, so he knew this was probably time to make his move or go with what he had. He looked at the cards in his hand, knowing that he'd had better hands before, but he'd won with a lot worse, too. Just how to play it was the question.

He pulled three cards from his hand and was about to toss them, when he hesitated and then removed one, tossing the other two face down into the discard stack. "I'll take two." He bit down on the unlit fumarello.

Bojay peeled the top two cards from the deck and pushed them to Starbuck, who pried them back slightly before leaving them on the table. He looked at Dietra carefully before finally responding, "I'll call the bet, and raise fifteen more."

Dietra's eyes widened, telling Starbuck that he'd made the right call on that side, then he looked to Bojay, his real target, as the gallery murmured and a few even made catcall noises.

Being up last, Bojay was thumbing his cards carefully, thinking. He had a very good hand, and he still had the opportunity to discard and replace the sixth card. With Starbuck drawing two, his percentage chance of having an equal hand was low, and anything better was extremely low. "Dealer takes...one."

He discarded his sixth card, an orange 3rd level that went into the stack sight unseen by the others, and drew its replacement. Peeling it back, he looked at the card carefully, his left eye widening slightly as he palmed the card and then slid it into the center of his hand. Looking carefully at the stacks of cubits by the other players, he quickly calculated his best strategy to be sure of winning the hand. He fought off a smile as he said, "I'll call the thirty, and raise thirty more."

Where there were murmurs before, this drew a loud gasp from several onlookers, and more murmurs, catcalls, and even clapping from the rest. All attention turned to Dietra, who didn't have that many cubits in her stack. She shook her head as she pitched her cards, saying, "Too rich for me, I'm out."

Starbuck was worried. Bojay only replacing one card meant that he probably had a very good hand, but this was it, the final round. Starbuck had spent the entire evening being careful not to win too much so it was now or never. He could go all in and call for the reveal, or he could make the gamble he'd been planning to make when the time was right. Quickly counting the number of cubits left in Bojay's stash and in his own, he made his decision.

Looking at the stack of cubits on the table in front of him, Starbuck deadpanned, "I've got 18 cubits left on the table...hmmm. And," looking Bojay in the eye, "I've got a cycle of leave that's right next to your assigned leave period. I think that should be equal to at least, say, fifteen cubits. Right?"

Bojay's eyes widened. This was a golden opportunity to get an extra cycle off on the very planet that Starbuck himself had described as "almost paradise!" Glancing quickly at his stack, the stack on the table, the thought of an extra cycle of leave was too much to pass up. "Sure!" he said with a sly grin.

Starbuck nodded slowly, as if considering. "Okay, I'll put in 15 cubits and a cycle of leave worth 15 cubits to call your 30 cubits. And I'll raise you one more cycle of leave worth another 15 cubits."

Bojay exploded, "Wait! You can't do that! I agreed to let you throw in that cycle of leave to match my bet, not to let you raise it!"

Dietra suppressed a chuckle as she said, "Bojay, I think you agreed that a cycle of leave was worth 15 cubits. You didn't say that it was just that one cycle that was worth that much, or that it was just Starbuck's that was worth that much." Her eyebrows arched, questioning him, almost taunting him.

Bojay grimaced and nodded slowly. "Starbuck, you bastard, you planned that didn't you?" Then he laughed, relaxing a bit, "Well, it won't matter because I have the better hand this time! I don't have quite enough cubits to cover your raise, so I'll call your cycle of leave with one of my own, and I'm not going to bother raising you for those three cubits. Let's see what you've got so I can take my cubits and your leave and go to bed happy!"

There was a flurry of expectant voices waiting to see the result and even a few bets changed hands on the ultimate winner. Dietra held up her hand while this was happening and said to Bojay and Starbuck, "Hold on guys," but when the outside betting subsided, she lowered her hand and said, "Okay, Warriors, start building your pyramids."

Starbuck led by placing one, two, and then three green third level cards on the table as the base of his pyramid. Bojay smiled at him and placed three potentially higher ranking purple third level cards as his base. With both Warriors having a three card base, each would have at least a second level pyramid, so Dietra paused them again while another round of side betting quickly took place. Glancing around and seeing that everyone was watching again, she gave the go ahead, "Warriors, build your next level."

Starbuck separated two more cards, and placed them in the level above the first three, revealing them to be orange second level cards. Starbuck's pyramid would be unranked due to the differing color. Bojay smiled as he peeled off the first card, placing it on the second level as well and showing it to be a purple second level card! This set off a round of expectant voices as he held his last two cards in front of him. Slowly, he separated one card, slid it across to his pyramid, and then flipped it over into the second row to reveal the Capstone card! Using it as a wild card, Bojay had completed a perfect purple second level pyramid!

The room erupted with shouting, whoops, and calls. With the odds stacked so much in Bojay's favor, there were no additional side bets, so Dietra called, "Gentlemen?"

Starbuck placed his final card against his forehead, closing his eyes for a moment as he breathed out slowly. Bojay shook his own, indicating that his last card could not extend his pyramid further. The crowd exploded once more, but an instant later it was even louder as Starbuck pulled his last card down, revealing it to be a purple first level card, completing an imperfect third level pyramid, one of the only hands capable of beating Bojay's pyramid at that point.

Bojay's mouth dropped. "NO WAY!"

As the room calmed and side bets were paid off, Bojay was still shaking his head in disbelief. Raking in the pile, Starbuck quickly pocketed the cubits and said to him with a grin, "Bojay, great hand. Better luck next time."

Bojay was nodding slowly and repeatedly with a funny grin on his face, too. "Yeah, next time, Starbuck. Tell you what though, I've got to tell Varcan to swap that leave cycle. If you'll give me, say, 15 cubits, I'll tell him you can have the first day so you can do your leave all at one time rather than the second day so you'll have to come back on duty and then go back down, okay?" Bojay was grinning broadly.

Starbuck's grin became a frown as breathed out slowly, and then grinned again as he pulled 15 cubits back out of his pocket and handed them over to Bojay. "Well, I guess you got me on that. I didn't say exactly which cycle I wanted, did I?"

'***

 _ **Author's Notes:**_ _While the rules may be slightly different than the few noted in the TV series, a Battlestar Galactica Pyramid card game based on the cards and general play in the series was released in the late 1970s. For purposes of the story, the rules of the Thirteenth Colony version of the game as used here are felt to be "close enough." If you wish to check it out, you can copy and paste the URL below, take out the spaces, and change the "dot" to a real period._

 _boardgamegeek dot com/boardgame/21977/pyramid-battlestar-galactica_

 _annex dot /wiki/Pyramid_(card_game)_

 _Finally, since the colors of the first two levels didn't match (thereby making it imperfect), Starbuck's imperfect third level pyramid could have been completed with any of the first level cards of any color._


	7. Chapter 6: Callous Conflicts

_**Author's Note:**_ _Many thanks to gymmom for her kind words and encouragement as I've been writing this story! As always, I don't own any of the original parts of Battlestar Galactica, so this is written for fun and not profit. Such encouragement helps make the writing more fun!_

* * *

 **Chapter 6: Callous Conflicts**

Several sectons later, Lieutenant Starbuck and Cadet Zhili were completing a long patrol around a portion of the system perimeter. Such extended patrols around the periphery and distant parts of the system were constant and overlapping, since the risk of discovery by the Cylons grew with each passing secton. The two Vipers were just passing the third planet and its moons, and were about to change course for the second planet and the Fleet. In a couple of centars, they'd be home.

As a recent graduate of the Fleet's accelerated Warrior training program, Zhili had only recently been promoted to full cadet and was now taking a combination of officer-directed courses and self-study classes in the Galactica's version of the Colonial Warrior Academy. Zhili had chosen to take the officer career path, which required far more formal coursework, rather than following the enlisted path chosen by some Warriors, which sometimes resulted in more flight experience at an earlier age. While Zhili had completed the flight training course, this was her first long-range patrol and she was very excited about getting back to the Galactica to get out of the cockpit to stretch her legs and to tell her friends.

"Lieutenant, this has been fun and very educational!" she gushed. "I can't wait to do it again!"

"Cadet, you'll have that opportunity, but first, you have to finish this one," replied Starbuck. "Let's at least get home before we start making plans to go back out!"

"Yes, sir, I know," she said, "but it's such great experience being out here where there's nothing—"

The sensor alarm kicked in suddenly, warning of two ships emerging from behind one of the planet's moons. The ships were still tiny dots in the distance, almost invisible, and the Identify Friend or Foe warning did not immediately identify them, so Starbuck activated the computer identification program while yelling to Zhili to break right with him.

"Who could that be, Lieutenant?" she asked, somewhat nervously as she skillfully kept her Viper tucked in right behind and to his left as a couple of plasma streaks shot by to their rear.

"Roll left now, Zhili!" called Starbuck as he instituted the move, getting his ship almost lined up for a shot at the closing targets, but his targeting was broken up as more plasma streaks edged closer to them. None were close to Starbuck but the last was too close….

"I'M HIT!" called Zhili. "Uh, deflected shot off the right wing. No damage! I'm still good!"

"Stay with me, Zhili!" he called as he finished his maneuver. As he was about to fire on the first target, the computer program suddenly identified the incoming ships as Vipers!

"Lieutenant Starbuck and Cadet Zhili, I believe, that was a good an example of how one must never let down one's guard," said a voice Starbuck recognized as the IFF finally went online.

"Lazant, you fracking son of a dagget, what in blazes were you doing?" Starbuck raged at the speaker. "You stupid idiot, you almost killed one of our young Cadets, and I was a millimicron from blowing you and your wingmate out of the heavens. And you know better than to turn off your IFF device except in the event of very special circumstances!"

"Ah, Starbuck! It was a special circumstance, a training exercise! Our turbolaser blasts were tuned to low intensity, so they probably wouldn't have hurt you even if they'd hit," he said.

"And that you'd have been able to hit us back, don't make me laugh," called the other Red Squadron pilot.

"Ensign Krachus, Lieutenant Starbuck could blow you out of the sky with one eye closed and one hand behind his back, and he'd have an even shot at taking me in an even fight, so stow the bluster, Ensign," replied Lazant icily.

Starbuck wasn't done yet, either. "Lazant, you bastard, one of your 'low intensity' shots did hit, and we thought Cadet Zhili was a goner as a result. Fortunately, for her and for you, she wasn't. And you know what, maybe I wouldn't have hit, but maybe I would have, and my turbolasers would not have been set to play; they'd have been set to kill."

"Ahem, sorry about the hit, Cadet," Lazant called, "I didn't think it was THAT close. If you're interested, I'll set up a special course in long range identification techniques after we return from our patrol. It will be good for all the current Cadets and Trainees. It will be a few cycles before we can schedule it though, since we're heading off to patrol this sector. Safe flying, Cadet Zhili. Later, Starbuck. We're off to keep the Fleet safe."

With that, Lazant and a silent Krachus hit their turbo thrusters and were gone before Zhili even had a chance to reply.

The pair continued on their way toward Beta and the Fleet for a few centons when Zhili called to Starbuck, "Lieutenant Starbuck, is Lieutenant Lazant always like that?"

Starbuck's first impulse was to respond with an immediate snide comment, but knowing that Zhili was a deeper, more thoughtful individual, he asked, "What do you mean, Cadet?"

"Well, Sir, he did say he'd offer that class to us, so I guess that's good since I've heard that Lieutenant Lazant is a very good pilot and is very good at teaching young Warriors…but…but, is he always such an equine's hindquarters?"

Starbuck laughed. "Cadet Zhili, one of the most important traits common to officers is that they quickly learn to cut through the felgercarb, and I'm very glad to see that you have it. Yes, he's a very good pilot but pretty much always an ass!"

'***

Rutilius was sitting in one of the three bar and grill establishments in the thriving temporary community of "New Hope" as it had become nicknamed. He lifted his glass of ale, thankful for finally getting a couple of cycles off, and shook his head on seeing the greasy grime around his fingernails and in some of the creases of his hand. Setting the drink down on the bar, he rubbed his hands together, trying to eliminate some of the embedded darkness, but to no avail, and this was even after washing his hands several times with the grime cleaner after getting off work earlier in the cycle. The only good thing was that with the new grime cleaner manufactured in the fleet, his hands didn't smell like a basket of fresh citrus fruit like they would have back in the Colonies!

Rutilius was no longer attached to the agri-crew as before, but instead, was assigned as an Assistant Mech Tech. Thinking back to the stalled agri-trac, he couldn't believe the turn of events. By the time the Mech Tech had shown up to repair the stalled vehicle, Rutilius had had a nice nap in the shade under the agri-trac, had eaten his packed lunch, and had drunk almost all of his water, so he was considering getting up and hiking back to Agri Community 1, the base of operations for the surrounding farms and his barracks tent. The arrival of the Mech Tech changed his plan since he could just catch a ride with the Tech after they were done instead. He heard the trac operator speaking with the silent Tech, but having nothing to add, he closed his eyes once more and was soon dozing lightly again under the vehicle.

He wasn't sure how long the repair took, but the agri-trac rumbling back to life awakened him abruptly. Rutilius scampered out from his shady spot under the vehicle, only to emerge in front of a rather nicely filled set of coveralls topped by a pretty female face with short dark hair.

"There you are! We were wondering where you were. Martus was just telling me that you had this beast diagnosed and if you'd had the right tools, he would have been back to work centars ago!" she almost shouted to be overheard above the roar of the agri-trac.

Rutilius was taken aback, unsure what she was talking about. "So you found the problem?"

"Grab that toolbox, and let's go," she said. "I'm Entella, and yeah, it was exactly what you said it was! We got it fixed in no time. I've got one more repair scheduled right now, so let's get to that, and I'll take you back to Agri-1 in a little while."

Rutilius lifted his drink, drained it, and ordered another. That moment had been the start of his trouble. He and Entella had gotten along great and he was planning to ask her out, but she had reported his apparent mechanical skills to her supervisor, and the next cycle, Rutilius had been transferred to Agri Community 2 to assist the maintenance crew there. It got him out of the backbreaking labor in the fields, but he ended up always smelling like that infernal grease as a result and was over 50 kilometrons from Agri-1 and Entella…and almost 80 kilometrons from New Hope and that pretty blonde Med Tech. He'd been okay working with the Magadonis-Molina equipment, his own former brand, but had also been able to be of some help with equipment from other makers.

Fortunately, with two cycles of leave finally granted to him, he'd been able to make his way to New Hope and now looked forward to some relaxing time off and some time with the blonde beauty. He'd booked a private tent for his stay and would get a good bath tonight to get rid of the rest of the mechanical residue and the perennial smell. Tomorrow, first thing, he'd go arrange a date with Blondie. Taking a drink of the refill, he knew there was always a chance she wouldn't agree to the date, but Rutilius wasn't the least bit worried about that. He make her since he knew just how to force her hand.

'***

It had been a hectic time after landing in Alpha Bay, with the crew chief on duty raising holy Hades that "someone" had scorched the wing of one of his Vipers. He was glowering at Starbuck since it was Zhili's Viper that had the damage, since Starbuck was the only other Warrior on the mission, and since no other names were mentioned. As much as Starbuck didn't like Lazant, he was a fellow Warrior so Starbuck kept his name out of it. The chief calmed somewhat when the metallurgical analysis showed that the blast must have indeed been at very low power and that there was no structural damage. Zhili watched the whole thing in silence, letting Starbuck take the lead, and when she was dismissed, she quickly disappeared into the nearest turboflush. Starbuck smiled, but as soon as the last of the mission paperwork was complete, he realized that Zhili had had a very good idea after all and he followed her lead.

Starbuck awoke early the next cycle after a good sleep, his body relaxed and rested, and he was off to work with his bag already packed. As soon as First Shift ended, he signed out with Varcan, and was officially on leave. A short time later, he was on the next shuttle making its way down to the planet.

'***

Rutilius awoke later than planned and from the position of Timorala in the sky, he figured it must be about noon, local time. He stretched, took care of his personal needs and dressed, and then headed to the Life Station to arrange his date with Miss Blondie. Why, he asked himself repeatedly, didn't he ask her name when they were in the Life Station a little while back?

Thinking back, he couldn't remember exactly where he'd encountered her before, but that face, that body, that voice, they were all there in his memory, as if it was just a few cycles ago. As a company rep, he'd traveled a great deal, and he had a lot of leeway in how he used his expense account. He'd often wined and dined the representatives of potential purchasers, and then occasionally, he'd treat such representatives to certain "specialities" as the last little incentive needed to tip their business in his direction. Under the right circumstances, that could work wonders! While he couldn't remember the exact circumstances, he was positive that Blondie was one of those specialities that had once brought him business, and for some reason, he believed it was a lot of business. Tonight...he smiled as he entered the main Life Station tent.

'***


	8. Chapter 7: Deviant Decorum

**_Author's Notes:_**

 _As always, I don't own Battlestar Galactica, but am borrowing the universe and characters for the fun of writing this story and sharing it with readers. Aspiring writers love constructive feedback, so readers' comments or reviews are always welcomed and encouraged. Thanks!_

* * *

 **Chapter 7: Deviant Decorum**

It was late afternoon local time when Starbuck stepped down from the shuttle. He swung his duffel onto his shoulder and walked in the same direction as the other passengers, heading toward New Hope. The arriving shuttle passengers had been told that it was only about a five centon walk from the "space port," an open field, to the temporary town, so Starbuck decided to walk rather than to wait for a ride since it was such a nice day. Nearing the edge of the field, he found the Viper wing stationed there with a few Mech Techs for support and a small contingent of Colonial Marines as guards. He said hello to the crew chief and the crew members, and was temporarily assigned to one of the Vipers, though he hoped he wouldn't have to fly it. Then he hiked on toward the tent town, which ended up being several centons further than promised at his normal pace. In the event of an emergency, he'd have to do hard run to get to his assigned Viper.

A bit later, he located the Life Station complex, a group of several connected tents, and entered to see Cassiopeia standing next to a supply chest with her back to the main entrance, her arms wrapped tightly about herself. Starbuck wasn't certain but it appeared almost as if she was crying. Rather than surprise her as was often his practice, he called, "Hello, Cassie. Are you okay?"

Though expecting him soon, Cassie still jumped at the sound of his voice and ran into his arms, hugging him close. Seeing the stains of tears on her cheeks and the cloudiness in her eyes, he gently wiped her cheeks and kissed her forehead as he asked, "What's wrong, Sweetheart?"

She looked at him, tears suddenly flowing freely as she realized that he was really there at last. Smiling, she leaned up to kiss him, hugging him tighter as she did. As the kiss lingered, her hurt and anger seemed to melt away and her grip loosened. When their lips separated, she briefly hugged him tightly again and finally responded, "Oh, Starbuck! Nothing's wrong now, my love."

'***

Based on Timorala's position in the sky, it was the middle of the afternoon on the western part of the continent, and Jolly was pleased that the long day was nearing the final stretch. The Alpha-Three squad trainees had done well on the day's tasks so far, having scaled two sections of the mountain. Over the past secton, they'd learned basic mountaineering from two of the best mountain climbers in the Fleet, and then done some climbing up and back down a couple of "easy" mountains. They'd gone on to more advanced topics like vertical scaling and horizontal traversing of rock walls, and done some rappelling. Today was their final exam, climbing a peak on their own, with only Jolly there for minimal guidance. The climbing trainers were always nearby, grading, but weren't offering any assistance except in the event of an emergency.

As Mooks finally reached the ledge, breathing hard as always but bright eyed and ready to push onward, Jolly told them to take a short break before they started the final leg up to the peak. Water bottles and energy snacks were retrieved and most of the trainees sat together on the rocky ledge, but Jolly saw Jostine move to the far end of the ledge by herself. She sat down, back to the mountain, and pulled her knees up to her chest with her arms around them, as if holding them for comfort rather than fear as she stared out into the distance.

Jolly approached her, kneeling down on one knee beside her. "Trainee Jostine, is everything okay?"

She nodded without looking at him, but then looked up and added with a whisper, "Yes, Sir. I...I was just thinking, I grew up in an area of gently rolling hills on Libra. The nearest mountains were almost 1,000 kilometrons away, and these are the first ones I've really ever seen up close. Now I'm climbing them. It's a pretty sight."

"Yes, it is." He paused for a moment before adding, "I'm sorry, I just thought it might be something else."

Jos bit her lip for a moment before replying. "You're right, Sir, it is something else, actually. I really like Ensign Jenena and she's doing a good job as our new squad leader, but I miss Wally, ah, Ensign Walrach. He was a great squad leader."

Fighting off a smile hoping that he'd finally reached the source of the withdrawal he sensed in her since her return after the accident, Jolly suggested, "And a great boyfriend?"

She nodded again, as if purposefully looking away from him, "That, too, Sir."

"You know why we had to transfer him, right?"

"Yes, Sir. It was felt that," she said with an exaggerated mimicry of the official statement, " _it might put Warrior Trainee Squad Alpha-Three at risk,_ Sir, with the two of us being _'close.' We might try to protect each other rather than completing a critical mission that might require one of us to be left behind, or worse_." Looking at him with a flash of anger in her eyes, she added bluntly, "Basically, it was against the fracking protocol, so we couldn't be trusted to do the right thing if it came down to it. No one questions Captain Apollo and Lieutenant Sheba in the same situation, but trust us? Uh-uh. Not one bit."

She continued to stare angrily at him for a couple of microns while he framed his response. "Jos, you have a point on the Captain and Sheba, so I won't try to argue their case. Let's just focus on you and Walrach. I'm sure you'd both choose to do the right thing if it ever came to it, but the protocol is set up to keep you from having to make that choice. Can you imagine how you would feel after something like that happened, if he was killed in the line of duty while standing next to you, or if you had to be the one to leave him behind? Or if you had to watch as he sacrificed himself for you? What if he had to order you to do the same? You might find it harder to live with yourself after that than it was to make the decision in the first place."

"Maybe," she said, "but we won't ever have to make that choice because we'll never be given the chance to be together."

'***

The arrival of a new patient had abruptly interrupted their reunion, so Starbuck headed out to find his quarters while Cassie assisted the injured person. His assigned quarters turned out to be a small walled tent rated for up to four people, but barely large enough for two in his opinion. Fortunately, he'd arranged it so he wouldn't have to share with anyone other than Cassie if she decided to visit. Standing up he had to hunch forward a bit to keep from rubbing the sloped sides near the peak. From the looks of the tent, he suspected it had been in storage aboard the Galactica (based on the lettering along the flap) since perhaps the time of his birth…or before. There were two cots and small table, with a ground mat under the cot for storing his bag. With his bag stowed, he headed out. He still had nearly a centar before Cassie said to come back, so he explored the little tent town for a while, made a few stops, and then returned to the tent to reshave and clean up a bit to be as good as he could for her. As the appointed time approached, he went back to the Life Station tent complex to meet Cassie for their long-delayed dinner date.

Entering the main tent, Starbuck saw another Med Tech checking a patient's vital signs as two other people sat in seats along the front wall waiting their turn. The Med Tech glanced up to see Starbuck. Giving him an obvious full-body visual inspection, he seemed to pass since she smiled broadly as she said, "Hold on, Lieutenant, Cassiopeia will be with you in a few centons. She's been dying to see you!"

Although it was under her breath, Starbuck was almost positive she'd added something about "not blaming her." He briefly smiled back at her and then looked away, as if studying the medical tent. In yahrens past, he knew that he would have probably been doing his best to get a date with the young lady even while waiting on his current date, but something in him had changed since he met Cassiopeia. Perhaps he'd finally reached that new level of maturity that Athena had always complained that he needed; that was at least part of what had kept that earlier relationship from moving forward. While he'd loved her, and still did in a way, it was never enough to make him reach that point where he was ready to commit to much more than having a good time with her. That had been good enough for both of them for a while, but times changed and so too did their relationship. He was with Cassie now, and he wasn't going to let Athena or the pretty young Med Tech or anyone else distract him from her. The sudden realization of what that might mean passed through him like a ghost, causing him to shudder slightly.

Suppressing the thought until later when he could consider it more carefully, he glanced at his chrono as he took a seat, but lost his personal bet a short time later when Cassie showed up with thirty-four microns to spare. In fact, he immediately forgot the wager in his mind when he saw her, dressed in a simple medium green wrap-around gown pinned with a gold brooch shaped like a thornflower and tied at her waist with a braided gold cord. Gold-colored wedges on her feet complimented the small gold hoops on her ears, her gold necklace with a green sapphire pendant, and the matching gold bangles on her wrists. Her wavy blonde hair hung loose, but it was the look in her eyes and her radiant smile that really took Starbuck's breath away.

A few centons later, the happy couple, arm in arm, entered the Sagittaran Grill, where Starbuck had made a reservation while touring the town earlier in the day. From what he'd been told, it was the best of the three temporary finer-dining establishments in New Hope. Starbuck helped Cassie with her seat at a small table near a corner in the back, then he took his seat next to her but where he had a good view of most of the establishment after placing his jacket on the back of his chair.

The two lovers sat close together, almost entwined as their hands and arms moved together, touching, rubbing, and connecting, after so long apart. They each sipped a glass of white ambrosa their server brought them while talking quietly over the hubbub in the establishment. Both were smiling, with Cassie so happy to be with him that her eyes grew misty and Starbuck feeling the happiest he'd been in recent memory. It was a perfect evening!

The Grill's dinner selection was rather limited, consisting of two types of salads, four entrees, one of which was a vegetarian option, and two deserts, all based on recipes from Sagittaran cuisine, but using, for the most part, fresh ingredients from Beta, with most obtained locally. Starbuck went with the grilled beaststeak and Cassie chose the broiled piscon fillets. The server apologized as he warned that it would take a little while for them to be served but promised that it would be well worth the wait, so Starbuck pointed to the drink menu and Cassie nodded with a smile. A few centons later, a steward brought a full bottle of ambrosa that Starbuck purchased with a portion of his winnings from a certain recent card game.

It was almost time for the food to arrive when Cassie, holding his arm tightly, whispered, "I love you so much, Starbuck," and then leaned in to kiss him.

When they separated, it took a moment for Starbuck to come down from the euphoric high that he'd just experienced, and Cassie was grinning at him as if she knew exactly what he was feeling. He was about to match her comment and then match her kiss, too, when something, or rather, someone, caught his eye. There was a man standing near the entrance who appeared to be staring straight at him with a look of intense dislike, maybe even hatred. To the best of Starbuck's knowledge, he'd never seen the man before in his life so he didn't know why the man might be looking at him like that, but before he had a chance to say a word, the man turned and left.

"Starbuck, is everything okay?" Cassie asked, looking back in the direction he was staring. Seeing nothing unusual, she refocused her attention on him, giving him another kiss as her foot started to rub his lower leg.

"Yeah, it's fine. I...I think our food's coming."

Based on the first few bites, the meal was indeed as delicious as the server had promised. The steak was grilled to perfection, and the piscon was excellent, too. Cassie looked so happy she almost seemed to be floating, and Starbuck couldn't imagine being anywhere else! Unfortunately, fate decided to intervene about that time as a man stuck his head into the restaurant and shouted, "Help! Fire! Right down the street! Able-body bucket brigade!"

A number of men and some of the women in the restaurant jumped up to help, as did Starbuck, who told Cassie to stay put as he gave her a quick kiss and flew out into the street with the others.

'***

Rutilius, breathing a bit harder than normal, reentered the restaurant after the last of those volunteers were on their way. Seeing that the Warrior was gone, he smiled to himself and immediately made his way back to Cassie's table. He was surprised to see that she was seated holding her glass in her hand with her eyes closed lightly and a serene smile on her face. He quickly took the seat across from her.

'***

With the pump truck's arrival and over 100 bucket brigade volunteers from the surrounding area, the fire was out in a few centons before it had the opportunity to spread to more than a few adjacent tents. With the fire out, a few people collected the buckets to put them back by the local fire tank, and most of the other people quickly returned to whatever it was they had been doing before the excitement. Starbuck took a hard look at the tent where the fire apparently started, and was about to leave as well when a voice called out, "Well I'll be! Starbuck, what brings you to these parts?"

Starbuck looked around in the now fading light of the setting orb to see Officer Reese smirking at him. "Hello, Reese. How did I get so lucky?"

"Well, Starbuck, I'm doing great, thank you for not asking. Now, you didn't have anything to do with setting this did you? I'd love to be able to pin this on you and have it actually stick," the blackshirt teased with a short laugh.

Having dealt with Reese before, Starbuck ignored the gibe and asked, "What makes you think it was set?"

Reese was quickly all business as he pointed to the roof of the first tent where the fire was believe to have started. "I was just down the street when this started and saw it before it went very far. When I did, you could see the intense fire on part of the wall and roof, with the rest of the fire trying to spread to other parts of the tent. It was like someone sprayed an accelerant on the fire retardant material, allowing part of it to burn through, while the rest didn't burn as well. Oh, and then there's the empty bottle lighter fluid that I found right around the corner." He held up a small bottle in a plastic bag.

Starbuck looked at the edge of the burned roof membrane sagging down into the now-waterlogged tent. "Reese, I see what you mean, here, and here. This part is burned through, whereas this part is just charred on the surface, with some of the material remaining." Starbuck nodded, "Nice job, Officer-I'm sorry, I see it's now Lieutenant Reese. Congratulations, I think."

The officer smiled back, "Thanks, Lieutenant Starbuck. I guess you're in the clear this time, but I'll just have to find something else to send you away for eventually," he said with another short laugh.

Starbuck fought off a laugh and replied, somewhat seriously, as he walked away, "Yeah, keep on dreaming, Lieutenant Reese. Just keep dreaming."

'***

Cassie, on sensing Starbuck's return, moaned lightly, suggestively, and opened her eyes only to see not Starbuck but the man from earlier that day! He clamped his hand on her arm, rather tightly, and said, "Don't scream, my dear. I finally remembered! It was the deal I did on the Rising Star between Caprica and Gemon a couple of yahrens or so before the Cylon attack. Miss Cassiopeia, you were the sweet icing on the cake, that last little incentive that helped me win the biggest contract of my career. It was with Consolidated Farm Products where I sold them the replacement equipment for agri-farms on three worlds. You know, some of the equipment we have here in the Fleet was part of that deal since delivery was staggered over five yahrens. And it was all because the CFP purchasing agent was even more infatuated with you than I was!"

Cassie's face reddened and tears spilled down her face more from the recollection that the pain. "Please let go of my arm," she begged. "I told you earlier, I'm not in that line of work anymore. I'm a full Med Tech now, and will be a real doctor before long. I had to make a living then, but now I'm trying to actually help people!"

"Oh, Cassiopeia, I've heard that one is never truly out of that particular business. You said you're trying to help people, well I want you to help me. Just one date, that's all I want. I'll pay whatever you want, and then you'll never see me again. You finish up with the fly-boy, and name the time and place and I'll be there," Rutilius said. He'd pulled her close, forcing her to bend forward toward him, and now he was looking directly down the displaced top of her gown at her beautiful, partially exposed assets. Seeing his eyes and smelling the alcohol on his breath, she clutched the top of her dress tightly to herself with one hand while struggling to shake off his hands with the other.

Crying, she said quietly, "Please let me go. I don't do that anymore. You have to understand!"

"I understand, all right, but I think you don't. You can't tell me you're in love with that fly-boy. Everyone knows what they're like, love 'em and leave 'em. He'd leave you in a heartbeat. Just one date is all I want-"

"No!" she cried out, louder now, as if ready to attract attention.

"Or everyone will know what little Miss Future-Doctor used to do! How many patients do you think you'd have, Cassiopeia? The women wouldn't come to you for the shame of being treated by a socialator, and the men who did-well, we know what they'd-"

"Get your hands off of her!" growled a just returned Starbuck angrily, fearful of hurting Cassie with her captor's hands gripping her so tightly, as he strode up quickly.

Rutilius turned in surprise, having been so engrossed with Cassie that he didn't catch the Warrrior's return. Seeing the fly-boy from before, he immediately released her, throwing his hands up in the air, and said, "Whoa, buddy! Just trying to arrange my turn for when you're done with her."

The hands grabbing his shirt just below his collar and his left arm were so quick that he didn't realize what was happening until he felt the kick sweep his feet out from under him. His breath left him as his back suddenly impacted the ground, hard. The hands and a knee pinned him there so he couldn't have easily moved, even if he'd been able to catch his breath again.

The Warrior's calm but very firm voice snarled, "This wonderful woman you just insulted is my girlfriend, the love of my life, and I'll be 'done with her' as you said, when one of us takes our very last breath, and not a heartbeat before then. If you insult her again, 'buddy,'" he said sarcastically, "it will be the very last time, understood?" When Rutilius didn't respond immediately, he felt himself lifted slightly and then pushed hard onto the ground once again.

"Starbuck, no! Don't hurt him, he...he was just leaving," cried Cassie.

"Yeah, that's what I figured," replied Starbuck. Looking at the man lying there on his back, Starbuck gave one last downward jolt with his arms and said, "Okay, you're leaving. But let me tell you this for future reference in case you ever are blessed to have a woman charitable enough to let you into her life...you never, ever treat a woman like what you were just doing. It degrades the woman, going against the very values of our society, and it makes you look even more pathetic than you already do. Unfortunately, I'm guessing that you may be so morally bankrupt that you don't believe that or perhaps you're just too stupid to understand it, so I'll put it in other terms I think you can understand. If I ever see you doing something like that to another woman, you'll be very sorry. And if you ever get close to Cassie again, ever speak to her again-frack, ever even look at her again-I'll kill you. Do you understand?"

'***


	9. Chapter 8: Lingering Legacies

**_Author's Notes:_**

 _1. **This chapter touches on some adult topics in what I believe is a teenager friendly fashion, but just in case, reader discretion is advised.**_

 _2\. At this point in the story, I would like some reader feedback since it may have bearing on the later parts of this story or its possible follow-up. **Considering that Starbuck and Cassiopeia h**_ ** _ave been together for app_** _ **roximately 2.67 yahrens since the Cylon attack on the Colonies, do you feel that they are being properly presented in character?** Please let me know your thoughts.  
_

 _Thanks!_

 _VST_

* * *

 **Chapter 8: Lingering Legacies**

 _InterFleet Broadcast news report:_

 _Core Command reported today that several more resupply efforts have been completed in recent cycles, including the comet mining operation which has replenished the Fleet's water supply. The melted ice from the interior of the comet has been collected and cleansed using a vapor and filtering system, leaving pure water fit for consumption. Stay tuned later this evening for our documentary_ _special_ _on that effort, including behind the scenes video of the operation and the successful rescue effort that we reported a few cycles ago. In related good news, Commander Adama has confirmed that there have been no signs of Cylon activity in the system since our arrival, but he warned that the Cylon menace is still out there and that we must finish our resupply effort and be on our way again before they locate us again._

 _In news from Timorala Beta, a third hurricane has been spotted in the planet's eastern ocean. Advance meterological information did not predict such storms on Beta, but like the two previous storms that have already dissipated, it is not expected that this one will affect our resupply effort or leave centers. However, it is possible that it may affect shuttle operations so the Colonial Meteorological Service is keeping a careful watch on the storm and is staying in close contact with Flight Ops regarding any developments. The weather forecast for the main areas being visited by those on leave are sunny and warm for the next four local days, with rain showers possible in the afternoons, and increasing chances of significant rains after that. Please see the local net for more detailed information on specific locations...  
_

 _...Finally, there have been a surprising number of long-delayed seal ceremonies held in New Hope, the main logistical center on the planet and the primary destination for those on leave. The area around New Hope is reportedly stripped bear of native flowers, which are being used for seal ceremonies, and a land-ram has been assigned to gatherers conducting longer-range flower gathering missions. One seal coordinator, who wished to remain unnamed, said she is actually considering calling in a load of silk flowers from the fleet to help meet the unusually excessive floral demand..._

 _'***_

In the training exercises on the western part of the continent, it was late afternoon and the view from the top of the peak was amazing. Mooks, being the last up, again, rolled over and sat up, taking a good look. One could see for many kilometrons.

While not the tallest mountain in the range by far, it had been selected as offering a number of challenges that might be faced by climbers having to infiltrate a well positioned enemy facility. With the wind blowing steadily but not too hard over the mountain top, Jolly signaled to Ensign Jenena to get her squad in order. With a curt order, all five trainees fell into line at attention, with Jenena joining the line. Jolly said, "Thank you, Ensign Jenena. Alpha-Three trainees, at ease. Your work today completes the training regimen at this location. You've all passed with flying colors, just like with the underwater course a couple of sectons ago! Next up, three cycles from now we'll be starting our cold weather course on the southern icepack. Be prepared for it to get quite cold."

The trainees looked at each other in anticipation of what they hoped would come next, and Jolly did not disappoint. "Okay, the good news is yes, I said three cycles from now, as I see you've noticed. That means that you'll be on leave for the next two cycles after arriving in New Hope this evening!" There was a quiet cheer from most of those in the line, including the young ensign, but Jolly's hand quickly restored order. He went through a few more instructions, and then told them to have a seat if they wished. Since the wind speed at the peak was within allowable limits, the shuttle that would be taking them to New Hope would be arriving to pick them up with their belongings already aboard in about five centons.

As the group waited, Jolly again noticed one trainee sitting by herself, facing into the wild toward Timorala, seemingly completely unexcited about the promise of the coming leave. She removed the climber's helmet from her head and gave her light reddish-brown bob a shake before closing her eyes to soak up some of the sun's warming rays. From Jolly's vantage point, it was difficult to tell, but he thought he saw a tear running down her cheek. Not wishing to intrude again, he was about to turn away when he saw her wipe her eyes and face, and then place her hands over what he suspected was an aching heart.

'***

Starbuck picked Rutilius up off the ground and planted him rather firmly on his feet before giving him a shove toward the entrance, saying, "Go away, and stay away!" As the man stumbled away, surrounding diners who'd just witnessed most of the exchange dumbfounded were nodding their heads and clapping. After the man left the establishment, Starbuck turned to Cassie and pulled her into his arms, holding her tight. She was fighting back tears but wasn't succeeding very well in that task. "Do you want to go?" he asked her, to which he detected a slight nod as she buried her face against his chest.

Looking to the server, he said quietly, "Please send our food and the rest of the bottle over to the Life Station complex." When the server nodded, Starbuck paid the tab, leaving a generous tip, and then led Cassiopeia outside as several of the men gave Starbuck various signs of encouragement and a few of the women reached out and patted Cassie's arm with looks of understanding or even compassion on their faces. However, a number of others who'd been further away and who generally had no idea what had just happened looked perturbed at having their rare planet-side dinner interrupted.

Timorala had set beyond the horizon and a bit of twilight remained, so Starbuck quickly confirmed the presence of his small hand torch on his belt, but it stayed in place since the street was somewhat brighter than he expected. Looking up, he was surprised to see all three of Beta's moons at almost full disc in the sky, so he led Cassie to the edge of town and then on toward trees along the river west of the camp with the moons' light showing the way.

She walked silently, clinging to him, with him holding her up to keep her from collapsing to the palely lit ground. Finding a gently sloping spot with what appeared to be a type of soft local grass, he pulled out the hand torch and cast its light around to make sure there were no issues that might cause discomfort. Finding none, he held her hand lightly while he removed his jacket, and then spread it out on the ground. "My lady, it's not the throne you deserve, but it's yours for the taking," he said as he did an exagerrated wave for her to be seated. This drew the first hint of a giggle since they'd left the restaurant as she took his hand and removed first one wedge and then the other, and then seated herself on the jacket.

"Thank you, my brave Warrior," she sniffled with the same degree of exaggeration. Seated, she tucked her legs to her side and spread the pretty dress around herself to keep it from wrinkling. Looking up at him, she turned up her hand to him, invitingly, and when he gently placed his fingers opposite hers, she grasped lightly, pulling him to sit down beside her.

Looking at his face and tracing his jaw lightly with her fingertip, she spoke at little more than a whisper, "Starbuck, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean for that to happen. I love you. I know you've loved me, too, and I hope what happened tonight didn't change that."

"Cassie, don't be sorry because what happened tonight definitely wasn't your fault. I love you, too," Starbuck said, kissing her forehead, "and I hope you know I always will."

She smiled at him. "Thank you, my love. I'm so glad to have you. I worry though, is what we have strong enough to last through the constant reminders of my past?"

Starbuck started to answer her, but she continued, leaning into him, "In some parts of our society, people are completely open and accept my former profession as a respectable job, but as I discovered after getting into it, many others view me and everything about socialiation as the most evil thing in the Twelve Worlds. I've seen what it's done to some people, some families, where a loving relationship no longer seemed to live up to the fantasy created in an encounter or where such an encounter destroyed the trust between two partners. I didn't understand that at first, but I get their feelings now. I've moved on from that period of my life now, and am trying to do something more with it, but as much as I try to get past what I did, people like that guy in the restaurant will never let me."

She wiped her eyes and nose lightly and continued, "It's not that I'm ashamed of my past for me, because I did what I had to do to survive at first and because it meant freedom and money later, but eventually I realized that it was a trap that I'd allowed myself to fall into, and that what I was doing was hurting others sometimes. The freedom and the money were just an illusion and there was never really a way out. Fortunately, I finally did get out with your help, but now, despite the fact that I've moved on, it's the knowledge that others will always see me like that, no matter what more I do, that hurts. They'll never, in their minds, let me move on to become the person I want to be. I'm studying hard to become a doctor to help people. When I do, what if my past keeps patients from wanting to see me? Starbuck, what do I do then?"

With one arm around her, he rubbed her cheek gently with his other hand. "We just have to always remember that the past is the past, and that anyone like that who holds that past over us is not our friend. Cassie, you know," he paused, fighting the painful thought, "I have a somewhat checkered past, too; I was the consummate picture of the love-em and leave-em Warrior, just like I think that guy was implying tonight as I arrived." He lowered his head and then shifted around to look back at her, directly into her eyes, and continued, "The guy was a real bastard and he was wrong about everything he said about you, but when it came to me, he was right on target, that was me, that was my past. Oh, I really fell in love a few times," he said, thinking of Aurora and Athena, in particular, but being careful not to mention any names, "but I was more interested in that particular moment, I guess, than I was in trying to make something permanent, to make something that would grow and last. Maybe it was just that I knew it wasn't right, that it wouldn't last forever, but...I don't feel that way about you. I think, and I hope you'll agree, that I've grown and matured at least a little since I've known you, and I now want forever with you, for however long that is, whether a centon or a 100 yahrens. I want to be blessed spending whatever time we have together."

She was struggling to hold off the tears, biting her lip lightly as she looked at him. Forcing a smile, she gently pushed him down on his back and lay against him, her head on his chest for a couple of microns before looking up at him and asking, "Really? You think together that we can put the past behind us?"

He looked up at her, her blonde hair shining in the pale light of the moons, and said, "Together, I know we can." Their lips touched again for a moment, but a moment later, she drew back. Starbuck was about to object, but then he saw her undoing the belt on her dress, the brooch already unpinned, and he smiled broadly as her dress fell from her shoulders...

'***

 _Elsewhere:_

Darkness...

Nothingness...

From a state of no apparent consciousness, he was suddenly aware of the nothingness, which seemed to indicate that there was something, somewhere. Indeed, it was as if he suddenly realized that he was in a very dark place, seeing and feeling nothing, as if floating, pure consciousness without a body, without a sense of time, or place. Attempting to come to grips with the strange situation in which he found himself, he tried to stretch his mind, but there was nothing more, nothing beyond the present state of darkness, nothingness. In fact, time had no meaning to him, the nothingness seemed to stretch beyond himself, perhaps forever. How far did it go?

Forming a question suddenly seemed to open a previously inactive part of his brain, a missing link in the pathways of his consciousness, and, like a dam breaking, knowledge and memory came flooding back to him. He knew who he was, he knew of dams and many other things, and he had memories. In fact, he suddenly had the last memory, the recollection of falling, falling, falling ever faster, seeing the ground rushing up at him, though he knew it was actually him rushing downward toward it, and then the sudden darkness that came when he impacted the ground.

At the shock of that disturbing memory, a sudden "vheeeeewh" introduced him to sounds at the same time that a cacophony of scintillating colors impacted his visual sensor, and a soft-sounding voice said, "Welcome back, Centurion M742L955-61B."

Though not knowing how, 61B suddenly knew he was strapped to a table looking up at an IL-series robot, but the table's sudden tilt surprised him as he went from horizontal to vertical, with his boots just touching the floor. The IL gave a slight flick of a hand, and a previously unseen IJ civilian science-series model stepped forward and released the straps. The centurion straightened slightly and was now standing under his own power.

The IL-series robot with the many lights emanating from his brainpan inclined his head slightly and said, "Centurion, my name is Lucifer and I am the chief assistant to our Imperious Leader. What we are doing here today is something that rarely happens in our society. In fact, based on my exhaustive search of the records, this has only happened three times in the past 100 yahrens, and each time only for a VERY special case. This may surprise you, but yours, too, is a VERY special case, so the Imperious Leader ordered that what must be done must be done, and so it was. And now, Centurion M742L955-61B, now that you have been given a very special renewal of life, our Leader will have a great many questions that must be answered, questions that only you know how to answer."

'***


	10. Chapter 9: Capricious Calm

_**Author's Notes:**_ _Many thanks to gymmom for providing a response on the critical question posted in the previous chapter. I would love to have any other thoughts on the matter; please see the question in the Author's Notes at the beginning of Chapter 8: Lingering Legacies. Also, like the previous chapter, this one briefly touches on an adult theme in what is believed to be a teenager-friendly way. Just in case there might be more sensitive readers following the story,_ _ **reader discretion is advised.**_ _As always, thanks for reading!_

* * *

 **Chapter 9: Capricious Calm**

Reese had finished up at the arson fire crime scene and returned to the Fleet Security "office," a large tent with a few chairs at the front, a number of tables, and a few crates. There were even a few cots in the back, with two currently occupied by sleeping children in the care of officers whose duty shift would be ending shortly. While sleeping children in the security office wouldn't normally be permitted, the situation on the planet was very relaxed due to the generally low crime rate that was expected on the planet, ever changing shift staffing needs, and the desire to keep families together to the extent possible to enjoy the planetary experience. Finally, there were a couple of connected interview "rooms," and another tent containing a temporary holding cell.

Since Reese was in charge of Second Watch, he checked in with the desk officer, a young man named Whitcher who'd broken his leg a couple of cycles earlier. Officer Whitcher had ended up with a simple fracture when he stepped in a small animal burrow a short distance outside of town while exploring with his young nephew, one of the two kids sleeping on the cots. Whitcher had no emergencies to report, so Reese took a seat at the Watch Commander's desk, which was really a pair of tables placed in the shape of an 'L', and logged into the computer terminal on the desk. Scanning the New Hope precinct log, he saw a couple of fights that appeared to involve a combination of alcohol and attempts to attract members of the opposite sex, and a couple of cases of reportedly stolen bags that he suspected, based on recent experiences, might have just been placed in the wrong tents. Hopefully, they would turn up the next day like the earlier bags. Scanning on down, there was nothing of any real interest until he noticed the last item on the log: an unnamed Warrior had reportedly beaten up an unidentified civilian. An off-duty officer had stepped into the grill for a drink a few centons after the event and had been told about it by one of the patrons at the bar, but the man didn't know the names of either of the parties involved and felt that the civilian had done something to the Warrior's date. Thinking of the location with respect to where they'd spoken, he briefly wondered if Starbuck might have been involved. He smiled at the thought, but quickly dismissed it as he started logging his arson case.

He'd found one witness who saw the arsonist apparently spraying something toward the tent and then setting it ablaze, but he couldn't provide a real description beyond male, medium height, and possibly stocky but not too heavyset. Reese wasn't sure how helpful that would be since it described any number of the current inhabitants of New Hope. However, the witness had also confirmed what Reese saw only moments later, that the fire had spread quickly in a certain pattern that approximated a spray area, and then seemed to have a hard time spreading beyond that point. The witness said he'd seen the perpetrator run away in the direction where Reese had found the empty bottle of accellerant. Reese hoped that the Fleet Security Lab aboard the Galactica would be able get fingerprints and identify the prankster. Granted, that he was a prankster was an assumption since the tent was unoccupied for that night, but setting fire to an empty tent didn't seem to make sense otherwise. Two adjacent tents had minor fire damage, but both could be repaired tomorrow using unburned portions of the destroyed tent. As there was no other property damage, Reese considered dumping the bottle into recycling rather than doing the paperwork and ordering the labwork all the way on the Galactica, but he ended up following through just in case the arsonist struck again.

"Hey, Lieutenant," called Whitcher, "we just got a comm call from Officer Voleron. He said he's received reports from two people on the northwest side of town that they saw a large animal on the edge of town. Voleron said that it sounds like one of those shaggy horned bovinoid creatures that we've been harvesting for those yummy beaststeaks."

Reese frowned and asked, "Are they sure that's what the creature is, and if so, can't they just run the stupid creature out of town?"

Whitcher, started to reply but was interrupted by a sleepy-looking little boy of nine or ten yahrens who was standing next to him in oversized, hand-me-down pajamas holding a cup of water from the nearby cooler. The boy said, yawning, "Uncle Whitcher, we studied about the shaggy bovinoids in school a couple of cycles ago. They're herd animals, like great big herds, with lots 'n lots of 'em. Teacher said they live on the higher plains where it's cooler and drier than here, but our science guys don't know for sure if they don't have migranes. If there's a shaggy bovinoid here, I betcha there's a bunch of 'em that have found us and they're going to stampede through town."

"Well, maybe, Wheran, and I think you may mean that they migrate instead of having headaches," replied Whitcher to his young nephew, his ward, who'd come down to the planet for a couple of sectons to spend time with his uncle shortly before Whitcher's accident forced some changes in their plans. Wheran was a troubled child following the loss both of his parents to the Cylons, so Whitcher did his best to care for the boy. "But it could just be one that got separated from the herd. Shaggy horned bovines on our homeworlds did that sometime, particularly when they were old or sick, and the bovinoids from here appear to be pretty similar."

Young Wheran nodded, "Yep, I'll bet that's it! It's sick! It's probably got some type of disease that's driving it crazy and it'll try to trample everybody!"

Whitcher was nodding and agreeing with the boy that it just might possibly be the case as he sent the boy back to the cot while Reese controlled his desire to laugh. As he thought about it, though, he realized that the young man might accidentally be partially right. Glancing at his chrono, he saw that his shift would be over in a little over a centar, but he wanted to get this resolved before he went off duty. "Okay, that boy's going to have me thinking of stampeding bovinoids all night, but better safe than sorry." Unlocking one of the crates, he pulled out a Mark 4 plasma rifle and then opened another for a handful of flares which might be useful in diverting the creature or its massive herd away from town. "Whitcher, get all of the on-duty officers not dealing with immediate issues to the outer perimeter and start patrolling it looking for this creature. When the next shift officers arrive, if we haven't already found it, have them join us out on north west side to help, too."

'***

The shuttle landed at the spaceport outside of New Hope, and Warrior Trainee Squad Alpha-Three disembarked at about the same time Reese was organizing the shaggy horned bovinoid hunt at Fleet Security. Jolly placed Ensign Jenena in charge, with orders for them to make their way to New Hope, check in at the main reception tent for their quarters assignments, and then have fun. With his trainee squad officially on leave, he reboarded the shuttle for a trip home to the Galactica.

Picking up their duffels and weapons, the six young people started hiking toward the town using the moon's light to guide their footsteps and the lights of the town in the distance to guide their direction. They were all tired from their long day, but most were looking forward to reaching town and finding a bar and some fun. The one who wasn't was missing a certain young ensign...

'***

Lieutenant Reese had six officers searching near the edge of town in the northwest quadrant of town where the bovinoid-like creature was spotted, and several others in each of the other quadrants. They'd been searching for over 30 centons, and so far, they'd seen no bovinoid creatures, no tracks, and, most imporantly for their boots, no bovinoid patties. Having found nothing along the perimeter, the large searchlight mounted on the back of a land-ram was now splaying outward in search of anything on the plain beyond the temporary town. As the land-ram reached the northern point of its circle and was about to turn back to the south, the light suddenly caught movement in the distance.

"There! Focus there!" said Reese to the spotlight operator on the land-ram. The wide beam suddenly narrowed to a point, which revealed several people facing the town with their hands and arms in front of their faces. A male voice was heard to shout, "Holy felgercarb! That's fracking bright!" so Reese quickly had the beam readjusted to keep from blinding them. Reese jumped on the land-ram, which headed toward the group.

A few moments later as the land-ram came to a stop, Reese saw a group of Warrior trainees, three men and three women, dropping their duffels. He noticed that the group was prepared, with a couple carrying plasma rifles in hand, and others appearing ready to have them out in a moment. Reese called, "Warrior trainees? Welcome to New Hope."

That brought smiles, but wariness remained. Reese continued, "I'm Lieutenant Reese, Fleet Security. Are you guys coming from the spaceport?" On seeing nods, he continued, "We had a report of what's believed to be a shaggy horned bovinoid-like creature out here, but we don't have enough searchers and haven't had any luck finding it so far. Did you see anything on your way here?"

One of the young women spoke up, "I'm Ensign Jenena, and this is Warrior Trainee Squad Alpha-Three." She quickly introduced the trainees. "We're coming to New Hope for a couple of cycles of leave, but we didn't see anything on our way here. Where do you think this steak on hoofs is? I think if you can buy us a couple rounds of drinks, we'll help you look for it, right?" she asked, looking to the trainees, most of whom were nodding enthusiastically.

"Deal!" agreed Reese. "Throw your duffel bags here in the back of the land-ram. We'll be able to extend our line and continue our sweep to the east for a little way, and then reverse and do a better sweep back to the southwest. Keep your weapons at ready in case we come across it and it charges, but the goal is to drive it out of town to keep from hurting anyone rather than killing it since we don't have butchering facilities here in town."

As the group joined the line and started moving forward, Mooks, the relatively heavyset young man, replied, "Sir, we've been eating yucky prepack meals in the mountains for over a secton. If we have to kill it, I think we'd eat it raw at this point, so butchering it really won't be a problem!"

'***

It was a little after midnight local time when a bright light from toward town briefly lit up their location and kept going. Cassiopeia was dozing lightly, snuggled up against Starbuck, who was looking up at the heavens admiring the myriad of stars. As far as he was concerned, he was already in heaven with Cassie in his arms. Seeing the spotlight, he nudged her gently and they quickly dressed, staying low to the ground, before the spotlight swept back across them.

"Do they do this every night?" asked Starbuck with a chuckle, "or is is a special occasion just for us?"

Cassie didn't know, so with the light still some distance away, Starbuck helped her up and they started walking back toward town. Soon, the light crossed them again, and this time it stayed for a moment before being diverted, for the most part, from their eyes.

"Well, I'll be! It's Starbuck...again!" said Reese's voice as Starbuck groaned. "I thought Colonial Warriors were supposed to have a pretty good sense of direction, but you two must have gotten really lost to end up out here." Seeing Cassie's wrinkled dress, despite her best efforts, he chuckled knowingly.

"Can it, Reese. What's happening? You're not looking for us."

"No, Starbuck. We have a report of what may be a shaggy horned bovinoid creature, so we're trying to find it so it doesn't get into town and hurt someone. Want to help? We've already got some of your Blue Squadron trainees helping. Maybe you can show them how it's done." He pointed toward Ensign Jenena and her trainees.

"Hi, Lieutenant," called Jenena, smiling, and the others who were just coming up.

Starbuck waved to the group and then shook his head, "Not now, Reese, I'm not leaving Cassie out here by herself to go chasing overgrown beaststeaks. I'll get her back to town safely, and then come back and help."

Reese pointed to a pair of approaching headlights and said, "No need, Starbuck. We've got a backup land-ram on the way bringing a few more Security officers. Since he can't join us on foot right now, I'll have Officer Whitcher drive her back to town. He's going off duty to take his nephew home, so he won't be staying."

Cassie agreed before Starbuck could object, and then whispered for him to be careful before kissing him goodbye. As soon as the blackshirts climbed from the land-ram, Starbuck helped her up into the seat beside Whitcher. With a final kiss played to several whistles, they were off. Watching them go, Starbuck whispered to himself, "I'm one lucky guy!" Unfortunately, it must have been a little louder than he intended because Reese and several of the others quickly agreed!

'***

A short time later, Cassie thanked Officer Whitcher for the ride, and she entered the Life Station tent. There was no one inside so the alarm chime was set up on the front counter where it could be used to attract staff attention if any emergencies came in overnight. Cassie made her way to her connected tent in the back to wait for Starbuck.

It was about ninety centons later when he finally arrived. They'd done another sweep and found no sign of any bovinoids or anything else, so Lieutenant Reese had finally cancelled the search. He sent the rest of the blackshirts on their various ways and took the young Warrior trainees to the late-night bar on the south side of town to buy them a couple of rounds of drinks as promised. Reese had thanked Starbuck, but didn't offer him a ride, so Starbuck found his way back to the Life Station complex on his own. On entering, he saw the "Ring Chime in the Event of Emergency" sign on the counter, and made his way to the rear. Nearing the back, he called, "Cassie?" at slightly more than a whisper, and she opened a flap at a connecting tent a moment later.

"Starbuck!" she exclaimed at a whisper as she waved for him to come. She pulled the flap up in front of her as he entered, and then whispered as he turned toward her, "I got into something more comfortable. Do you like?"

His eyes and his smile widened as he saw what she really wasn't wearing, and then he took her into his arms again.

'***

It was a short time later and both lovers were drifting off into a very contented sleep when a loud chime sounded from the front of the Life Station complex. Cassie immediately sat up, clutching the light sheet to her chest while stifling a yawn. Starbuck, also awakened and a now a bit more rested, lightly ran a finger down her spine, and was starting his way back up again when she patted his hand to stop. He followed with light kisses, which drew a whispered but giggled, "Starbuck! Stop it!" Hearing something out front and the chime stop, she breathed a sigh of relief and then rolled back toward her lover, pressing her breasts and her lips against him as he started to draw her tight. They'd barely made contact though, when, from the front of the Life Station complex, a piercing scream interrupted the night!

'***


	11. Chapter 10: Evil Eddies

**Chapter 10: Evil Eddies**

From the front of the Life Station, a piercing scream interrupted the night!

Being quite skilled in dressing quickly both in the line of duty and in other matters in the past, Starbuck jumped from their bed and threw on his pants as he whispered to Cassie, "Stay here and get dressed, quickly. If you hear shouts or shooting, stay low, slip out the back, and get to the Fleet Security office." He grabbed his boots, tunic, and holster and ran from the room toward the front tent.

Getting his boots and holster in place as he ran, he reached the main tent and peered in with his blaster drawn and pointed upward in one hand, finger on the guard but ready to slip into place if needed, and his tunic in the other. On the far side of the large tent, there was an apparent patient holding one arm with the other while a young lady seemed to be struggling to keep the apparent patient upright since both seemed to be rather inebriated. They were looking across the tent at the pretty young Med Tech from earlier in the evening. She was nearly hyperventilating with her hands partially covering her mouth as she stood looking down behind a table in front of some supply cabinets.

Seeing no immediate threats, Starbuck moved into the room and peeked behind the table to see a pair of boots and lower legs on the ground. As he moved on around to see more, the pretty Med Tech saw him and immediately put her arms around him, holding him tightly. "I think he's dead! I'm a Med Tech but I've never seen so much blood! Well, like that, anyway!" Trying to pull him even closer, she ran her hand over Starbuck's naked chest, reminding him that he was still shirtless.

"Excuse me, Miss," he said as he carefully disengaged her hands from him and gently directed her back away from the possible body. He caught her lingering look at him and was reminded, ever so briefly, of times past, but just as earlier, dismissed the thought. With the young woman behind him, he moved on around the table and saw the rest of the man, lying on his back, with at least a half of a dozen stab wounds in his abdomen and chest and a large pool of blood on and around him. As he moved closer to check whether the man was still alive, he suddenly recognized the man as Cassie's attacker from earlier that evening!

'***

As Watch Commander, Lieutenant Reese's quarters were right behind the Fleet Security tent and just a few tents down the street from the Life Station. He had just sat down on the side of the bed to remove his boots when he heard a piercing scream come from the direction of the Life Station. Throwing his boots back on, he was running down the street toward the life station with his blaster in his hand as he hit his comm unit to call for backup.

Reese peered into Life Station to see a couple of people seated over to the side, a very pretty Med Tech who appeared to be somewhat shaken up, and a shirtless Starbuck starting to pull his tunic over his head. Reese shook his head with a degree of frustration as he entered, wondering what Starbuck had done to upset the young lady. "Starbuck, am I going to have to haul you off to the brig tonight after all?"

As he adjusted his shirt, Starbuck pointed. "Over there, behind the table."

Reese involuntarily drew back a bit on seeing the body, before he moved forward to take a closer look. There was lots of blood, and signs that the floor had been hastily wiped down enough to obscure most footprints. The Life Station treatment areas were one of the few tents in New Hope with a hard floor, primarily due to the need to help control cleanliness and possible infections. In this case, there was one good footprint and then several more walking away, leading to...

"Starbuck, let me see the bottom of your boot," Reese ordered, and he immediately saw signs of blood in some of the tread pattern when the Warrior lifted it up for him.

As tired and irritated as he was, Reese cocked his head a bit, scowling. "You know, people have gone to prison for less."

"Yeah, I know, but we had to make sure he didn't need medical assistance, so I checked for a pulse. Nothing. Sorry to mess up your crime scene, but fortunately," he continued with a smile, "I think you'll find that I have an iron-clad alibi."

The blackshirt had seen enough death and destruction over the yahrens to know that the body was long past needing medical assistance, and figured that Starbuck had, too, but nodded knowing that the young Med Tech would probably have eventually done it if Starbuck hadn't. Being careful to try to avoid further contamination, he stepped up, checked the body for stiffness, and then probed it to get a temperature reading. Based on what he could see from his quick check, he suspected that the time of death would mean that he was Starbuck's alibi!

'***

The bar on the south side of town was located just past the storage depot, several temporary manufacturing facilities, and some stores for those on furlon. The layout was an attempt to keep the noise from being quite as likely to disturb those trying to sleep just a few streets to the north. As the band played softly (since it was now into Third Shift and sound carries, particularly where tents are involved), the Alpha Three Squad trainees were sitting at a table next to the side wall of the tent where Caden and Jent were playing a game of Aquarian drinking darts, while at the neighboring table a young couple about their same age seemingly without a care in the worlds was taking turns making out and sipping their drinks. On the trainees' table, there were a number of small cups, a bottle of newly bottled and branded 'Timoralan Ale' with a small spout inserted in the top, and a small unopened bottle of red ambrosa.

Standing next to the table and facing the outside wall, Caden had his dart at the ready as he called, "Go!" Jent spun the board and stepped back as Caden let the dart fly. When the board slowed to a stop, the dart was embedded in a six spot. "Ah ha! Beat that!" Caden said with a grin.

Jent made a show of checking his dart and then lined up as Caden took his spot next to the board. When he was ready, Caden spun the board. Jent pitched the dart and smiled as the board wound down with his dart embedded in a 9 nearer the center. "Done! I beat it!"

Mooks poured five of the small cups full of the ale, and then made a face as he quickly drank two of them down. Caden also grimaced as he tossed the first cup of the fiery liquid down his throat. "That's one. Nine minus six is three, so two more, Caden," said Mooks, pushing the last two cups across to him. Caden was still making a funny face as he picked up the last cup and tossed it quickly after his second one. His coughing fit brought laughs from the other boys and looks of near exasperation from the ladies.

Hefasia shook her head as she sipped her ambrosa. "I really don't see what they see in this game or that awful firewater."

"Boys will be boys," replied Jenena. "But the stuff in the little bottle is supposed to be a really good vintage, so I guess they think it will be worth it, if either one of them is left standing to claim it. If they both pass out and Mooks is still up to win it, I'm going to laugh like crazy! Seriously, they're saying this new ale will mellow in the wood barrels where they're storing it, but the current batch is so strong it would have to mellow a long, long time before I'll ever try it again!"

Hefasia laughed in agreement, thinking of the small cup that she had tried soon after arriving at the bar. "Speaking of mellow, Jos, you're looking awfully, well, that. Spill, girlfriend."

Jostine reflected on how nice it was to have friends as she took another tiny sip of her white ambrosa. Ending up on the Galactica after the Exodus, especially with Urdea as her foster guardian due to Colonel Tigh's help, was quite unusual, but it had turned out pretty well. The only big disadvantage that there were very few teenage girls aboard, so she didn't have many female friends her own age. As such, she was very glad for the support that these young ladies, both a couple of yahrens her senior, had given her since they had met in training.

"Oh, I'm just really bummed, I guess. We've all worked so hard in recent sectons, hoping for a chance at a furlon, and now it's here. It's just...I'd hoped to be able to spend it with Wally, too. Now I'm here, he's Lords know where, and I can't even get in touch with him. I sent him a message to let him know as soon as we got on the shuttle to come here, but he never responded. What if he's decided to give up on us and has moved on?" Her voice dropped to a near whisper. "I guess that's what scares me. Being alone and not even knowing it while being stuck here drinking a really gross drink. Good Lords, how do they drink that other stuff?" She looked at the glass in her hand as she gave it a gentle swirl, creating a little eddy in the glass. Watching it slow to a halt like the dart board, she added, "Yeah, it could all be down the drain."

Hefasia offered a compassionate smile. "Never! Listen, honey, he never responded? Did you think that the shuttle ride took, what, two centars? He may have been on duty."

"Yeah..."

"Jos, we saw the way he looked at you when you were laid up. Puppydagget eyes and worried sick. That boy loves you and you know he'd be here in a heartbeat if he could. He's probably out saving the fleet somewhere while pining for his sweetheart. He'd much rather be here making out with you like those two over there-Whoa! Hey, get a tent, you two!-rather than being wherever he is."

"Well...I hope..."

"Hope nothing! Quit feeling sorry for yourself! Send him another note, let him know you're here and worried about him, and just maybe he'll be able to get here to see you before we head off to the ice box. As for this stuff," she said, giving it a swirl before drinking it down with a mischievous grin, "if you really don't like it and aren't going to drink it, pass it to me. I'll send it down the drain for you."

'***

Three more blackshirts arrived over the next little while, and Reese proceeded to direct the investigation with a skill that even almost impressed Starbuck. However, it was soon pretty obvious that Reese's security team members had nowhere near his level of skill or training, but Starbuck wasn't too concerned about it since he knew there was no way Reese would try to pin it on him. Cassiopeia, now fully dressed, had entered the main tent about the same time as the blackshirts, and she had taken the injured patient to side treatment room to deal with his injured arm. On seeing nothing he could do with the investigation underway, he tried to enter the treatment room to see if she needed any help, but Cassie promptly shooed him out, saying something about "patient privacy."

There was a lot of activity over the next half centar or so, with a couple more blackshirts arriving with equipment to record images, take samples, and so forth. Starbuck finally sat down in a chair and dozed off.

'***

"Hey, Starbuck! You can't sleep in my crime scene," called Reese, "especially when we're ready to wrap the case up so quickly."

"You've solved the murder already? Great!" called Starbuck. "So who did it?"

"Well, we've still got a few loose ends before we can name any names. In fact, you might be able to help us with a couple of these things. Before seeing the dead guy here, had you ever seen him before? Do you know anything about him?"

Starbuck was quite tired, but something about Reese's question rang a little bell in his mind and brought him back to full alertness. "What's going on Reese?"

"Starbuck, answer the question. Had you ever seen him before?"

He nodded. "I think this is the guy that was bothering Cassie at dinner tonight when I came back from helping with the tent fire."

"And you punched him out?" continued Reese.

"No!" replied Starbuck. "Well, I wanted to, but since Cassie was there and I was trying to be nice, I took him down with a leg sweep and then gave him a pretty stern lecture."

"Which ended with a threat to kill him?"

"Well...yeah. But, Reese, you know I didn't follow through!"

Reese followed up with one of the original questions, "What else can you tell me about him? Had you ever had dealings with him before?"

The little alarm bell in Starbuck's mind was now clanging a lot louder. "Reese, to the best of my knowledge, I'd never seen him before tonight."

Reese looked at him again and asked, "Do you know if any of your friends have ever had dealings with him before tonight?"

The alarm bell in Starbuck's mind was now sounding like a continuous klaxon. Not being absolutely sure of the man's identity, Starbuck answered, "I'm not sure," but he was spared a follow-up question as Cassie emerged from the treatment room.

The man had his arm in a cast and both he and the woman were now walking somewhat more steadily than before. Cassie gave the injured man a final instruction and sent them on their way. With that out of the way, she turned to Starbuck and asked, "What happened out here? What was the screaming and why are there officers all over the place?"

Lieutenant Reese stepped forward and answered, "Med Tech Cassiopeia, we're conducting an investigation here. I must ask you not to speak with other parties until we've asked you some questions."

"Now wait a centon!" objected Starbuck strenuously, but two of the other blackshirts stepped in front of him signalling him to stop or they'd try to force him to do so.

Cassie looked at Starbuck questioningly, but Reese stepped in front of her holding up a clear plastic bag with what appeared to be a female Med Tech uniform. "Med Tech Cassiopeia, is this your uniform?"

She looked at it and on checking the tag, answered, "Yes, this is my uniform. Why? And why is it in that bag?"

Reese looked at her carefully and then turned over the bag, showing several blood spots visible on the uniform. "Med Tech Cassiopeia, the blood spots on your dress match the blood type of the dead man lying on the floor behind that table. I'm going to have to ask you to come with me."

'***

It was getting quite late and the amorous couple in the south side bar had finally gotten the hint that their public display of affection was going a bit too far. They left the bar and were making their way to the man's tent, a couple of streets north of the buffer zone and a couple more to the west. Both were very inebriated, so they were weaving from side to side as they finally turned on what they thought was the right tent lined street. Trying to avoid crashing into anything, they were giggling and laughing at each other's antics. As the young man tried to sing to the young lady, she shushed him rather loudly, but when that didn't work, she pulled him in close, laying a sloppy wet kiss on him to quieten him. That worked better than she expected, but suddenly, their forward progress slowed.

"Frack! Where's your tent?" she asked, suddenly realizing that they'd continued right past the last tent, and that the young man was still moving on into the area beyond the town. She stopped and called, "Chadler, let's go back and find your tent! You said we'd..."

With the light of the full three moons, she saw him trip and flop down on the ground laughing a few metrons in front of her. Running up and reaching down to pull him up, she said, "No way! I'm not doing it out here on the gr-" but Chadler grabbed her hand and pulled her down on top of him. She landed with an "Ummph!" but was quickly back to kissing him again. Feeling his hands roaming, she gave him a little half-hearted swat and started to get up when she realized she'd put her hand on the ground in something wet and sticky. "Yuck!" she said as she tried to wipe it off on the low-cut prairie grass, but in doing so, she wiped her hand in more of the liquid. She'd just about made it up when she saw something, so crawling forward a bit, she said, "Chadler, there's something here!"

He rolled over, laughing again as his hands roamed again, and said, "I know it's here somewhere! That's why I'm trying to-what in Hades is that?" Moving closer and focusing hard, he suddenly realized what it was, and a moment later when she saw it, the young lady joined Chadler in screaming!

'***

 _On the Cylon homeworld:_

Centurion M742L955-61B stood in front of the dais answering questions one by one as the Imperious Leader put them forward. With the last question answered, the Cylon leader said, "Now, Centurion, while you sent us one image, we must uplink to you to get all of the exact images of the box. Open your data port for remote access."

61B did so, and a few moments later, a holographic image began to emerge from the projectors. Every view that 61B had made of the box was examined, with the Imperious Leader asking a few more questions along the way. When the procedure was complete and the image sequence stored, a flick of the imperious hand caused the image to fade.

Due to the way his mind had to be restored by uploading information to a new brain when he was being brought back following his initial destruction, M742L955-61B's neural pathways were not those of a typical Cylon warrior. Therefore, it surprised the Imperious Leader, Lucifer, and the other Cylons standing back from the dais when 61B spoke first, asking, "Why is this information important? Why would I be brought back to life to provide it?"

The Imperious Leader stared at the centurion for a few microns. Ordinarily, an unauthorized question like this would have considered such a breach of protocol to be an automatic destruction sentence, but the Leader understood more of the revivification process than any other being in the universe, so he allowed it to pass, with considerations of ordering the centurion's pathways to be adjusted prior to having him returned to duty. Looking at the centurion, he asked, "What do you know of the humans?"

In the standard mechanically monotone voice, 61B began, "Humans are the sworn enemies of the Cylon race. They have been at war against our species for almost 1,000 yahrens, and only utter annihilation of the human species offers any possibility of a lasting peace for the Cylon people. Humans are a mammalian species having an average lifespan-"

Seeing that the centurion was simply reciting the standard information from the Cylon database, the Imperious Leader stopped him. "Centurion, human beings have many strange habits that are not shared by our Cylon brethren. One of the most strange, which we discovered to our detriment over a period of many yahrens during the early phases of our war, was that they are capable of creating intricate narratives that, while detailed and quite realistic, are actually completely untrue. It took our scientists and intelligence operatives quite some time to discover this, then a number of yahrens to prove what most of our leaders considered to be an absurd theory, and finally many, many yahrens before we were able to duplicate their ability within ourselves. Unfortunately, the adult humans ingrain the ability within their offspring almost from birth, sharing ridiculous false narratives with their replacements, and then struggling as the growing replacements later return equally ridiculous false narratives to their immediate progenitors. Humans call false narratives 'stories,' false narratives meant to intentionally mislead are called 'lies,' and particularly detailed false narratives meant to intentionally mislead enemies or even entire peoples are called 'intelligence operations.'

"However, it is a particular branch of the 'story false narrative' that has bearing on your question. The humans have created a subset story that offers insights into their way of thinking, often shared with their replacements as a method of indoctrination. This subset, called a fairy tale, is named after what is believed to be a long extinct branch of their species. In order to better understand them, I have downloaded and studied their fairy tales, and have found one that has particular bearing on this case.

"Two young replacement humans make their way to a particular point in an ancient forest, which is dark and tangled. Knowing that they will not be able to find their way back to their original destination, they take the packaged fuel that they were planning to ingest and break it up in pieces, trailing it behind them instead as they make their way through the forest. Their plan is to be able to follow the pieces, which they call breadcrumbs, back to their original origin. What the replacement humans do not understand is that breadcrumb trails can be followed in two directions, and in the case of the story, the creature seeking them uses the breadcrumb trail to follow and eventually find them. Then the creature consumes them."

Concluding, the Imperious Leader added, "The box you located is a particular type of breadcrumb, a meteorological device dropped along their way by the humans, most likely to determine the suitability of planets for long term colonization by their race. If we can find enough of these breadcrumbs to establish their pattern, we can use the example of the creature in the story. We will follow the trail which will help us locate the human fleet so we can finally destroy it."

"Why are you explaining this to me," asked 61B, in another departure from the standard protocol.

"Because," replied the Imperious Leader making his decision final, "after you are upgraded with a second brain, you will be in charge of following the breadcrumbs..."

'***


	12. Chapter 11: Rebuffed Requests

**Chapter 11: Rebuffed Requests**

Lieutenant Draegor, New Hope's Third Watch Commander, looked over at the two young kids who'd found the scene. They were huddled together and the young woman was still shaking periodically. From what he could tell, they were lucky to be just shaking instead of scattered all over the ground like the still unidentified victim.

Draegor had four officers with large lights combing the area for body parts or clues as to what happened, and one more at guard with a Mark 4 plasma rifle. He'd seen in the log that a bovinoid-type creature had been reported in the area late last evening, but the bloody remains didn't look anything like the damage he suspected a bovinoid would be likely to inflict. He had to pull up an image of one of the beasts from the Timorala database (which was being expanded by scientists each day in case the Colonials were ever able to return to the system) to make sure that it had hoofs similar to those of bovines back in the Colonies. They appeared similar, but despite the searchers' best efforts, not a single hoofprint had been found. For a creature believed to weigh between 500 and 800 kilos, that struck Draegor as being very unusual.

"Hey, Lieutenant," called Officer Arax. "I think I may have something over here." The young man pointed to a thick patch of disturbed vegetation and the area adjacent to it, next to an unidentified body part. "See here, there's blood on these leaves, but if you press them down a bit," he said, demonstrating, "you can imagine that something stepped on it and broke some of the stems. And here, when pressed down a bit more..."

Draegor's eyes grew wide as the officer pushed it all the way to the ground and he saw what appeared to be roughly the image of a large bloody footprint, about 15 to 18 centimetrons wide by over 20 centimetrons long. "There's no way!" he exclaimed. "That's not a bovinoid."

"That's right, sir. I found a slightly better version over there but there's not as much blood so it's really difficult to see. I think we should warn people to be on the lookout for this thing. If it's the size of a shaggy bovinoid like those people reported last night-"

"Whoa! If? That's a big word. We don't know what we're dealing with, so we're not warning anybody about this until we have more information, until we know more about whatever this is, so we can warn them about the right thing. If we start spouting off about a giant creature that eats people, we'll start a panic. The little furlons on this world are doing a great deal of good for our people, so we have to know a whole lot more before we ruin that for everyone."

"But, sir, being eaten by a giant creature would ruin the furlon for people, too!"

Draegor, realizing the importance of the situation, gave the younger officer a stern look, avoiding the impulse to laugh. "Okay, when we're done here, you guys are going to start patrolling the edge of town being on the lookout for anything trying to get in. We'll get another landram out here so you'll have good spotlights. While you're doing that, I'm going back to headquarters to call Captain Rance and we'll make a decision on what to do, kicking it all the way up to Commander Adama or the Council of Twelve, if needed. For now, let's do our job and find this creature, or if we can't, let's prevent it from finding any more of us."

"Sir, but what if-"

"No more ifs, Officer Arax. That's an order."

'***

Apollo walked into the Blue Squadron operations room well before the start of First Shift to make sure he had everything covered. With Starbuck preparing for his leave over the past couple of cycles, Apollo had become increasingly aware of how much his friend and second-in-command did to help keep the squadron functioning as well as it did. He smiled at the thought since Starbuck would get to do it all when he and Sheba took their leave in a few cycles. Fortunately, with Sheba still temporarily assigned to Blue Squadron, she'd been able to help out as well.

As he approached his office, he was surprised to see Jolly sitting on a couch, slightly slumped sideways, asleep. He walked by quietly in order to avoid disturbing him any earlier than necessary; the crush of Warriors at First Shift would do that soon enough. However, when he reached the door to his office, he saw a hand written note that read, "Apollo, I need to talk with you. Jolly."

"Well, you asked for it, my friend," he said with a low voice, following with a much louder, "Hey Jolly! Wake up!"

The sleeping Warrior was instantly awake, though it took him a micron or two to get his bearings. "Oh, Apollo! Thanks." He got up, yawning, and came forward. "Can we talk? Privately?"

Apollo motioned for him to enter and have a seat. He asked about Alpha-Three Squad's status and was pleased with the good report. "Are you going to be willing to take Alpha-Four Squad when we start our next batch of Warrior trainees?"

Jolly paused for a moment before answering. "Captain, I've grown pretty close to this batch of kids over the past few sectars, and want only the best for them. But don't you think it might be better if our next group of trainees gets a different perspective? I think I could probably use some more flight time, too."

Apollo laughed. "Jolly, I had a feeling you might say that. Actually, I've already pulled the records for our next potential 'victim', though I do expect you to teach some of your signature classes, of course. Now, you needed to speak with me about something?"

Jolly nodded. "Two things actually, but they're related. First, there's an issue with one of the Alpha-Three trainees."

"Who is it and what's going on?"

"Number Four, Jostine," replied Jolly, to which Apollo's eyes widened in surprise. "Yeah, I know, we've talked about her having the potential to be the best Warrior in the squad, and possibly in all of Class Three, but since the incident a couple of sectars ago, and more particularly in the past few sectons since she's been on the planet, she's been...well, I don't know how to say it other than just 'off.' She accomplishes her tasks, generally quite easily, but her heart's just not in it."

"Really? That's disappointing and surprising. Her latest SIM scores were outstanding. She hasn't done many, but her co-piloted takefoffs and landings have been great, and her name is on the list for the first group for full Viper combat training in a few sectons. What's happening?"

"I wasn't sure, but I finally got it out of her. She's having boy trouble, but it's not like it sounds. You remember that we found out that she was seeing Ensign Walrach?"

Apollo rubbed his forehead on that. "Of course, I had to get after that young man for crossing that line, not realizing they were already dating when she joined the program. Then, when we got another junior training officer up to speed, I relieved him from that duty, just before the trainees left for Beta. I feel bad about it but it was for the best."

Jolly nodded. "Since you relieved him, she's not been able to spend any time with him during a period when she probably still needed some support after such a close call. She has it in her head now that she'll never be able to spend any time with him if she continues in training. I checked the board to see if I could prove her wrong, if we might be able to switch his leave for this period so they could spend some time together, but it won't work-"

"Yes, he's on a long range patrol and won't be back until just before her leave's over," finished Apollo.

"Exactly. So she's on furlon dwelling on it now, and I'm worried that when we get ready to leave for the polar cap for cold weather training, I may have a resignation letter in my hand rather than my potentially top trainee."

"That's not good. It sounds like I need to speak with her-"

Jolly held up his hands as he shook his head. "No, no, I'm not sure that's a good idea. You see, Jostine's seeing a double standard at work. She and her boyfriend are separated and not being allowed to spend leave together. He's even been demoted rather than her being transferred to Beta Three or Gamma Three. Meanwhile, even though it's against the stated policy," Jolly said solemnly, "another, higher profile couple serves together in the same squadron, even if it's an extended temporary assignment, and it's already a known fact that these two are planning to go on furlon together in another few cycles. To make matters worse, the guy in this couple is the person who demoted her boyfriend for doing basically the same thing..."

'***

"No, you can't use our comm system," groused the rather heavyset black-shirted Sergeant at the desk, "to contact the Galactica or anyone else for that matter. We've got a serious problem right now-ahem-trying to keep law and order in this little village-and we're not providing unnecessary services to the boyfriend of a probable murderer."

With all the whispering between the officers over the past centar or so, Starbuck could tell something was going on, something beyond the murder investigation, but so far, this was the first real word he'd heard about it. Unfortunately, that word was really nothing. He breathed out, very slowly. It wouldn't take too much effort to make the overweight little toad spill the story and eat those last few words, but the other blackshirts, however distracted they were, might be a little much for him to handle, and it would most likely make the situation even worse for Cassie. Maintaining his calm, he replied rather sarcastically, "Well, thank you for your consideration. I'll definitely remember it. And when Cassiopeia is cleared, I'll expect you to apologize to her directly."

He turned back and saw that she was still in the connected tent with Reese and two other officers, so, rather than risk trying to reenter again, he looked back at the sergeant again and said, "If she comes out, please tell her I'll be back shortly."

The desk sergeant gave a curt nod of acknowledgement, though Starbuck suspected it was just so his words that had gone in one ear would be able to more easily escape out the other ear on the other side. He was extremely discouraged as he left the station.

Looking at his watch, he realized it would be almost the start of First Shift in the Fleet, even though it was still two or three centars to sunrise on the planet. Using the light from the three moons, he started for the space port at a run, but keeping a close lookout for the missing bovinoid as he did.

'***

It was about five centons before the First Shift briefing, and Apollo had just finished reviewing new assignments for the next few cycles. The constant long range patrols were starting to wear on Warriors and machines, but fortunately the planet-side leaves were helping keep spirits up. He was looking over another report and trying to keep his mind off of the issue that Jolly had planted there when Varcan knocked on the jamb of the open door and said, "Captain Apollo, Lieutenant Starbuck is on the comm for you from Beta. He says it's an emergency."

Apollo thanked him, and activated the unit on his desk. "Starbuck, is that you? Varcan said you have an emergency. How many more cubits do you need?" he said with a laugh.

The line crackled slightly as Starbuck's voice came through. "I wish! It's real, Apollo. There's been a murder here in New Hope and Reese and the blackshirts think Cassie had something to do with it."

"What? Have you tried to convince them that she's not at fault?"

"Yeah, but it's, well, kind of complicated."

"Reese is a hot-head sometime-well, most of the time-but he tries to be a good police officer. Surely he'd listen to reason. Is there any evidence you can use to convince them that she didn't?"

"Well, they had a run-in earlier in the day, and then another one at dinner, so they're not paying much attention to me since they think I'm covering for her. It probably wouldn't be so bad, but I did sort of threaten the victim at dinner, so I think they think-"

"Starbuck, wait. You threatened the victim? And then the victim turns up dead? Might anyone have seen you do this? Maybe someone trying to pin it on you?"

"I don't know of anyone who was there who might want to frame us, but, yeah, there were at least twenty or thirty people in that corner of the restaurant who probably saw what happened."

"That's not good," said Apollo, with growing concern in his voice. "Hold on-Varcan! Start the briefing with Sheba. I'll be out shortly. Please shut the door, thanks-Now Starbuck, I'm missing the briefing so give me the short version of what happened..."

A few centons later, Apollo did a long, slow sigh. "Starbuck, I hate to say it, buddy, but it sounds like you've got another fine mess on your hands."

"Yeah, but this time, it's not my fault! Cassie's either. But I do have an idea that might help..."

'***

Baltar was helping clean up the mess hall after breakfast, showing Officer Finlay his good side once again. Baltar had been carefully cultivating the relationship, and now knew more about Finlay's sealmate and their two foster children than he had ever dreamed might be possible. Both Finlay and his wife were still haunted by the loss of their three children during the Cylon attacks or during the Exodus; from the time of the initial attack, neither parent were ever able to locate any of the teenage children. They'd finally had to make the painful decision to board the ships escaping from their city with hopes that their children were on another shuttle rather than to stay behind to try to find children that might not be there and thereby face certain death. In the end, they'd chosen to go, but no sign of the kids was ever found; almost three yahrens later, they remained tormented over their decision. They'd taken the two orphans into their family to try to help the kids and other parents who might have faced making the same decision.

"Officer Finlay, it was nice working with you again today, as always," said Baltar with a smile. "How are your sealmate and your fosters doing today?"

"Thank you, Baltar. I appreciate the help. And the family is doing pretty well, thank you."

"That's excellent," said the prisoner. "You know, I've been thinking about your family's situation with the foster kids, and it made me recall a somewhat similar situation with another family, a young couple named Danatron and his sealmate Ofelia. It's only recently come to my attention that Danatron and his wife survived the Cylon attack and made it to the Fleet. I am led to believe that they are on the Ombirran Dawn, with the couple having taken in two or three foster children following the Cylons' dastardly attacks."

"There are so many orphan children from the attacks, it's good that people like your friends have stepped up to serve as foster parents," commented Finlay. "While the fosterlings won't have their natural families any more, each one that grows up in a foster family rather than a dormitory full of orphans will at least have some family to call their own as they grow up and eventually have children of their own. Though they'll never replace our lost children, we love our little fosters as our own, and may even go through the process of doing a full adoption someday..."

Baltar was nodding. "So true. Families are quite important. I was once friends with Danatron's late parents, and remember that young man as a child when visiting the family." Trying to keep the tale he was spinning as real as possible, he reached deep into his childhood memories and borrowed from one of his favorite outdoor activities. "I even gave Danatron a Y-shot for target shooting using small beads during one of those visits and remember showing him how to use it. As far as I know, he doesn't have anyone outside his immediate family. Hmmm, I wonder..."

Finlay looked at Baltar as they finished the last of the cleanup and said, "Well, we're done, Baltar. Time to head to back to your cell."

Baltar was concerned. The officer had dropped the subject so abruptly when the cleanup was done, but the former Council member didn't feel he could bring the topic back up without raising suspicions. As they neared the cell, he was debating what to do when Finlay paused for a moment and then asked, "Baltar, have you considered contacting your friend? With families being as important as they are and his family situation the way it is, perhaps he'd like to hear from you?"

"Ohhhh, I don't know," replied Baltar with hesitation. "I guess maybe I could send him a note to see if he'd like to visit with me sometime. We could speak of his parents, and I could maybe tell him stories of when his father was his age, and perhaps he could tell 'Uncle' Baltar about his family."

Finlay was nodding, seemingly in agreement with the idea, but Baltar continued, "The only problem with this plan is that I have no way to get a message to Danatron. I suppose I could write a brief note of invitation, but I'd need someone to deliver it for me. Might that be something that you could do, to help facilitate our familial meeting, Officer Finlay?"

The blackshirt thought for a moment and then responded with a nod, "I think that might be okay. You write the note, and I'll see about getting it delivered for you."

It was all Baltar could do to keep from smirking as he replied, "You are much too kind, Officer Finlay, much too kind."

'***

As soon as the Blue Squadron briefing was over, Apollo told Varcan that he was going to the Bridge for a meeting and would be back shortly.

The bridge was a bustle of activity as always, with Tigh and Omega right in the middle of it. Apollo didn't see his father, so he guessed he was in his office or the war room just off the Bridge. He decided to stop by to see him when he was done, but first, he had to speak with the colonel.

"Apollo! What's going on?" asked Tigh when Apollo asked to speak with him. "You're not coming to beg for new Viper parts are you? The guys on the Forge Ship are telling us that they've started testing on the first batch of critical parts produced from the ores from this system and that they're hoping to have them certified soon. In fact, I was about to contact you about a meeting about it later this morning."

"Thanks, Colonel, but parts are a bit far down on my worry list this morning," replied Apollo. "Can we speak in private?"

Tigh's expression showed a level of concern equal to what Apollo was feeling, and it grew worse when Apollo filled him in on the story. Apollo concluded, "With the situation the way it is on the ground and with Reese and Starbuck never getting along all the well in the first place, we're wondering if you might be able to get Lieutenant Urdea assigned to the case. He's a very respected detective in Fleet Security, and with his Warrior background, we're sure that he'd be fair and would look at the evidence and establish the facts rather than using his position to fight with Starbuck...or worse."

"Sure, let's call Rance." Stepping to one of the vid stations, the Colonel had the operator put in a call to the Fleet Security Captain.

A few moments later, Rance's image came on the vid screen. "Colonel Tigh, what can I do for you?"

Tigh gave Rance the basics of the story, and then made his request. When he was done, Captain Rance shook his head on the viewscreen. "Sorry, Colonel, but we can't do that. Lieutenant Urdea is on assignment in the middle of the case we discussed almost two sectars ago. He's been undercover for several sectons now, and pulling him out to do this would jeporadize that case and could be dangerous for him, too. If you recall the details, I think you'll agree that the case is a lot more important than a murder in the middle of a love triangle on the planet. Therefore, Sir, I have to deny your request. There's just too much at stake for the relative payoff."

Apollo, off to the side and out of view from the vid camera, made a face showing his frustration, but Tigh was nodding to the vid while holding up a hand to Apollo out of view. "Captain, I thought this might be the case, but wanted to ask, just to be sure. Perhaps there's another option..."

'***

With Baltar back in his cell, Finlay signed out of the cellblock area and made his way back to the Prison Barge's main security office. Finding an available station, he signed in and then composed a brief message. "Subject has broken the ice with request to deliver a message to individual on O.D. Permission to accept message and forward to requested destination?"

Approximately thirty centons passed as Finlay waited, catching up on some paperwork. Finally, a response arrived. Opening it he read, "Permission to accept message is granted. Permission to forward message is DENIED; by no means are you to forward it to the requested party. Find out everything about the intended recipient; dig deep. Once you have the message and that info, contact me and we will determine how to proceed..."

'***


	13. Chapter 12: Devilish Details

_**Author's Notes:**_

 _Wishing a Happy and Blessed Thanksgiving to my American readers and those around the world who may be celebrating similar events._ _After this chapter, there are still about four more chapters to go in this story, with some elements planned to be addressed in a possible sequel story or beyond. If you are enjoying this story and wish to see this series continue, or if you have suggestions for improving it, please let me know your thoughts. Thanks!_

* * *

 **Chapter 12: Devilish Details**

The shuttle landed on the field north of New Hope just as Timorala rose above the horizon. The fifth person to disembark, and the one not going on furlon, was a very thin young man in his early to mid 20s with straw colored hair. He was of medium height and clean shaven, which emphasized his thin cheeks; he'd requested to grow a short beard, but the Captain had turned him down, saying it would reflect poorly on the force. Since at least two other officers on outlying ships already sported short beards, Investigative Technician Krixus suspected that Captain Rance had actually realized how thin the "beard" would be and figured that such a poor showing would be what would reflect poorly, and not the act of having a beard itself.

Stepping to the cargo being offloaded below the shuttle, the young man picked up a small bag that he threw across his shoulder and then picked up a large white case marked "Crime Scene Investigation Kit." Even with Beta's somewhat lighter gravity and despite all of the new exercises he'd been diligently doing over the past yahren or so to build strength and stamina, the young man had a bit of trouble getting control of the case as he positioned it on his back. Between the long-term, lingering effects of a childhood respiratory disease that had left significant scar tissue in his lungs and all the extra equipment he'd brought "just in case," the bag was quite bulky and heavy. There was supposed to be a land-ram to take arriving passengers for the short ride to New Hope, but it was nowhere in sight.

Captain Rance had given him a briefing of the known facts in the case. Now, he was to investigate and let those facts and whatever forensic evidence he was able to uncover lead where they led. If the Warrior or his sweetheart did the crime, Krixus was to find the evidence to prove it. If not, he was to prove that, too, and find the real culprit. Finally, Rance had expressed that the case was of extreme importance and was even getting attention from top brass within the Fleet, so time was critical. Therefore, Krixus had hefted the bag over his other shoulder, and, once it was well placed on his back, had staggered for the first few steps before achieving his balance. Then, he started the walk toward the tent town over the rise to the south.

He'd walked about a hundred metrons or so when he heard a small land-ram coming up fast behind him. Turning, he saw someone dressed in a Viper maintenance crew outfit slewing the land-ram from side to side at a high rate of speed. Realizing he was about to be run down by either an out-of-control maniac or an assassin, he dodged to the side to avoid the impact, but with the large pack still positioned on his back, he ended up falling backward over the large case, landing on top of it. He threw his arms in front of his face to protect his head and squeezed his eyes closed in anticipation of the impact, but at that moment, the wild driver expertly corrected and slammed to a stop right next to him, only a metron or so away.

The driver removed a cap, freeing a ponytail only to readjust it and start tucking it back in. Krixus was surprised to recognize the driver as a woman several yahrens his senior, and was even more surprised when she said, without even acknowledging the near miss, "Investigator Krixus?"

When Krixus nodded shyly, wondering if she had decided to finish him off with a blaster or some other weapon hidden within the vehicle, the woman smiled at him. "Lieutenant Starbuck asked me to track you down and get you to town as quickly as possible. Stow your stuff and let's go. Oh, I'm Partha, by the way."

Krixus struggled to get out of the crate's straps, and then loaded it into the back of the land-ram. He climbed in, and was almost thrown into the back when, without warning, the woman shot the vehicle forward at a high rate of speed. Getting positioned in his seat next to her with the belt firmly fastened, Krixus hung on tightly as the woman continued her driving antics. "Uh, Miss Partha, do you always drive like this and almost run down your passengers?" he asked. "And if so, why?"

"Oh, sorry!" she said, slowing ever so slightly. "And I wasn't anywhere close to running you down back there! Though, I guess it might have looked like it." Realizing the scare she'd given him, she apologized and continued, "I haven't gotten to drive since the Colonies, so I'm just having a blast with this. I wasn't a maintenance person back home, though I did know my way around mechanic work. I actually drove a large delivery transport for a living and an all-terrain vehicle on holidays with my boyfriend for fun, and I was always helping work on those vehicles. Since none of the vehicles made it to the Fleet and since the boyfriend became the 'Ex' soon after we arrived, I did some more training and became a Viper mechanic to help..."

Several centons and some pleasant conversation later, the land-ram pulled up in front of the Fleet Security tent. "It was very nice to meet you, Krixus. Hope to see you back on the Galactica sometime soon."

Krixus blushed at her smile and said, "You, too, Partha, and thank you for the wild ride." He grabbed his small bag and then hoisted the big bag onto his shoulders again, determined not to show any trouble like the first time. He gave a smile and a small wave, and then turned away. He couldn't help laughing when he heard the land-ram tires spin and then saw the vehicle slew to the right and the excited driver quickly correct as she rapidly headed back toward the spaceport.

'***

At about that same time, another shuttle was landing in Alpha Bay on the Galactica. A tall but slightly stooped balding man in his mid 50s with a short dark beard and wire rim glasses emerged a few moments after the ship came to a stop. He was carrying a satchel filled to overflowing with papers in one rough hand and a portable computer and folded wide-format screen in a large open bag with a strap on his left shoulder. When he cleared the landing area, he stopped and looked around, wondering where he might find his contact. He didn't have long to wait though, since just a moment later he heard someone call, "Forgemaster Karkarian?"

The engineer turned to see a Warrior come running into the bay from a nearby corridor. "Yes, I'm Karkarian."

"Nice to meet you, Sir, and sorry I'm late. Welcome to the Galactica. I'm Captain Apollo of Blue Squadron here on the Galactica. Colonel Tigh just spoke with me about your work, and he asked for me to escort you to the Bridge so we can talk as we walk."

"It's nice to meet you, too, Captain. Lead on."

'***

Krixus had taken a good long look at the crime scene from various angles, and then taken a series of images that perturbed Reese, since his officer had already taken some of the same shots. His deliberate pace seemed to really disturb Reese. When he complained, Krixus replied, "Lieutenant Reese, I only get one look at the undisturbed-well not-too-disturbed-crime scene. The tiniest overlooked detail may mean the difference in the crime being solved or perhaps the wrong person being convicted. I know you and Captain Rance want this solved quickly, but doing it right and making sure we get every bit of that evidence so we do get it right is a good bit more important to me than your artificial deadline." The young man was almost trembling as he finished, as if afraid he might fold at the slightest push-back but apparently determined not to do so.

Krixus was actually surprised when Reese responded. "I'm sorry, Tech Krixus, do your job. I just think we have a really good suspect who will crack and admit what she did with just a little more pressure, which I think your evidence will be able to supply. And then maybe I can finally get some sleep!"

Reese had grilled Cassiopeia for over two centars during the very early morning before daybreak. While her story was consistent, her motive for murder could be seen as extremely compelling. Reese had heard a rumor that Starbuck's lady had an interesting past, but consulting her records and then hearing the story from her own mouth made him realize that she'd had some lofty highs and some pretty abysmal lows. She'd been a registered Socialator and was an upper class companion for those needing her specialized services, but with the Cylon attack, she was suddenly thrown into a situation without the money or connections she'd come to enjoy. Many in the Fleet from other walks of life did not know or understand the ways of her profession, and they only looked at the most base portion with disdain, contempt, or even outright hatred. Those who practiced the profession were often scorned by such individuals or even outcast from such communities, when that was possible. Could Cassiopeia, who had experienced some of this and then made a new life for herself by expanding on the lesser known and less frequently practiced aspects, be fearful of losing the new life she had made for herself? Could the victim, identified as one Rutilius, have been such a threat to her new life that she would do anything to protect herself from such exposure? Reese, as a trained officer, had to ask the questions and then follow the facts, wherever they led.

Krixus set up his investigation kit on a spare table from another room and started to work. With this case, and a second, unrelated case just outside of town of which he'd just been told, the young man realized that he was in for a very long work cycle.

'***

Varcan had passed word to her that Apollo was back from the meeting on the Bridge, so after giving a signed thanks and a finger to her lips indicating silence, Lieutenant Sheba peeked into the open door of Apollo's office. She watched as he worked diligently for a few moments before finally making an ever-so-tiny tapping sound on the jamb. When he didn't look up, she increased the tapping slightly. Again, there was no response so she increased it once more. Apollo, still looking down at the paper, said, "Sheba, are you going to keep drumming all day until you reach stampede level or are you going to come in and close that door?"

"Apollo! How did you know it was me?"

"Ah, I saw you before you got to Varcan," he said with a grin as he stood up and pulled her in for a kiss as the door closed. "Here, have a seat. We've got a lot to cover." He thanked her for handling most of the squadron briefing, and then they went over the plans for the next few cycles leading up to their planned furlon on the planet. "I think that covers most of the normal issues, but there are a few special items. First, senior staff just had a meeting with Forgemaster Karkarian. He said the asteroid mining operation is complete and has been a complete success. All of the ore storage containers are full, the Foundry Ship is operating at full capacity, and the Forge Ship is turning out new, much needed products as fast as they can go. Therefore, they're shutting down the mining operations, getting rid of the evidence of our presence to keep the Cylons from knowing we were ever there, and will be rejoining the Fleet soon."

She nodded, hoping for what was coming next. "And the Viper parts...?"

He laughed. "I knew you'd be interested in that, knowing all about the growing parts shortage for our Vipers. The good news is that they're currently testing the new production of the most critical parts, and expect to have them certified in a few more cycles."

"That's great news! In going over the inventory reports, I've been worried that we're going to have to start cannibalizing parts from other Vipers soon," she said. "And we don't really have any to spare. But you said 'the good news.' Is there bad news, too?"

"No, it actually gets better. In addition to the equipment we already have, Karkarian has already started building new equipment that will allow us to start producing other Viper parts in coming sectars, and he has plans to allow us to make every part required for a Viper over the next yahren. He said they hope to have new Vipers sitting in Beta Bay within the next eighteen sectars. The only major problems are that they're having trouble finding places to put all of the equipment, finding people to do the manufacturing, finding a place to do the final assembly, having enough duridium ore for the alloys, and so forth. You know, just the details."

Sheba gave a sympathetic frown. "Ooh, my father always said that when it came to details, never underestimate them since the Devil was in them."

Apollo chuckled. "True, but we'll work them out soon." He then hesitated before slowly, painfully continuing. "There's one more thing we need to talk about."

Seeing the concern on his face, she asked, "Apollo, what is it? Tell me."

He sighed. "Sheba, when you were transferred to Blue Squadron it was on a temporary basis so you could teach us about your expertise in dealing with the Cylons and so we could teach you about the way things worked in the Fleet. Eventually, we accomplished all of that but then continued the arrangement so we could be together."

She was nodding slowly in agreement as Apollo continued, "I've always known it but, I guess in spending so much time with Starbuck, I've just chosen to ignore it...someone has pointed out that our relationship with me as your commanding officer and you as a someone under my command violates protocol. It wouldn't be a big deal but I had to discipline and effectively demote someone recently-"

"Ensign Walrach."

"-Yes, Walrach-for doing basically the same thing with one of our trainees. Now, our relationship is seen as a double standard and it's starting to affect moral. We can't keep doing this."

"So...what do you propose?"

"Well, that's why I wanted to talk to you, so we can fix it so our situation doesn't affect anybody else."

Sheba really didn't like the direction this was heading, so she pushed the discussion forward to its inevitable conclusion. "Wait. Apollo, you're talking about appearances, aren't you? Yes, it suddenly looks bad to the Warriors, so now we have to do something about it. Yet for over two yahrens, we didn't worry about that, completely ignoring it, even though we knew it was against protocol. Apollo, two yahrens!" She was starting to get upset. "So what are we going to do? Or maybe it's 'what are you going to do?' since you're in charge. Send me back to Silver Spar? What about the people you'll be demoting there to do that? Or just send me back and demote me? Or maybe ship me off to Red Squadron? Oh, we'll have the same issue there plus I'd have to deal with Lazant; Lords help us! I won't do it! Or are you just going to try to force me to retire? No, Apollo, I'm a Warrior, so that's not happening either!" Despite her normally sweet and easy going nature, Sheba was Cain's daughter, and now she was becoming increasingly upset and was showing some of the fiery spirit worthy of her legendary father. "No...that wasn't what you were thinking, was it? You aren't actually going to throw two yahrens down the turboflush and break up with me, are you? Please, Apollo, I'm really mad about this, that we'd both let it go so far and get so comfortable in the arrangement despite the fact that we both knew it was against the rules. I really love you, though, and I know you love me, too, so I hope you'll think really hard about that before you say anything else and maybe ruin what we have." She quickly rose and ran out of the office.

'***


	14. Chapter 13: Dutiful Deals

_**Author's Note:**_

 _Battlestar Galactica and all its elements are the property of its various owners, so I write my stories for fun and not for profit. However, I do really appreciate your feedback if you're enjoying the story or if you find issues with it. I try to fix errors or issues when I find them or when they're reported; unfortunately I've been known to miss things, so your help is invaluable._

 _Thanks!_

 _VST_

* * *

 **Chapter 13: Dutiful Deals**

The land-ram had left New Hope very early that morning and was now moving slowly alongside the band of trees that bordered the river several kilometrons to the northwest of the town. Finding what appeared to be a prime hunting ground, Melikie, a slightly plump woman in her mid 40s with short dark hair with a smattering of gray, stopped the vehicle, and she and the other three members of the party climbed out.

They retrieved their hunting supplies from the back of the vehicle, and, after a brief discussion, spread out in their assigned pattern, with Melikie, the leader, walking along the edge of the grassland, another sorting her way through the tangled bushes at the edge of the trees, and the other two venturing on into the woods.

'***

Reese had refused to release Cassiopeia at first, but he changed his mind when she asked him how he was going to deal with any emergencies that might occur. The only Med Tech on duty at the moment was actually Cassie's less-experienced backup, so he let her go when she promised not to leave the Life Station without letting him know.

Starbuck, on the other hand, was ordered to stay out of the Life Station and away from Fleet Security headquarters. He finally decided to go to his tent to get a little sleep to avoid being charged with something like strangling Reese or one of the other blackshirts. The much welcomed sleep didn't last long, though. The bad dream started with a voice calling his name, then calling it repeatedly. It got much worse when the disembodied voice slowly resolved itself into Reese's voice. "Starbuck, wake up! I need you!"

"Reese, if I shoot you in this dream, do you think the Chief Opposer will charge me if it hits you in real life, too?" griped Starbuck as he clambered off the cot. As a temporary resident, his cot wasn't nearly as nice as Cassie's real bed. "What do you want now?" he asked as he put on his holster and opened the flap to face the officer.

"Starbuck, we need to talk. In private. Now."

The Warrior gave him an evil eye, but when Reese didn't erupt in flames or morph into a double mustached and five or six armed Tucanas, Starbuck decided that he must be really awake, so he slipped on his boots and walked with the blackshirt.

"Starbuck, I have some news. Tech Krixus just finished the first round of tests. The blood on Cassiopeia's uniform was the same type as the victim's, but it wasn't a DNA match. It was from a patient earlier in the cycle, just like Cassiopeia said. There's still a number of things to check before we remove her from the suspect list, but it's looking better for her. Oh, and with the time of death confirmed, you're in the clear, too...well, as long as there wasn't a paid assassin involved. From looking at your financial records, I can't imagine that either one of you could have found one that cheap...or desperate."

Starbuck glared at him but skipped over the privacy invasion, going instead for the more important points. "Told you, on both counts. Now, get those other things checked so you can take her name off that list."

"Yeah, I know, that's what you two said. Sorry, but you know how it is; we have to check everything since way too many people seem to think they can spin just any old tale to the police and get away with it. Unfortunately, for the second part, it may take a while to check those other things out now because we have a new problem that looks like it's going to require that we divert almost all of our available manpower. That means we might have to keep her confined to duty-quarters for several cycles, and, of course, away from any potential witnesses. And you're here for how long?"

Realizing what Reese was saying, Starbuck's eyes were shooting daggers at the blackshirt. Reese wasn't done, though. "However, I've got a deal for you if you're interested..."

'***

Melikie had high hopes for the day's expedition. There were, after all, a lot of people back in the little town counting on her. As she moved forward, her eyes were constantly moving, searching, but she really wasn't afraid of failing. She was quite experienced herself and she'd trained her hunters well, so she felt, without a doubt, that they'd be successful.

Less than a centar had passed when Melikie topped a little rise and saw it standing tall and straight just a few metrons away. She stopped and calmly drew her chosen implement from its holster on her belt.

'***

Centurion M742L955-61B had felt a great awakening on being reactivated some time after dying on what was to him a no-name planet in an unnamed system. Before crashing into the planet's surface from several kilometrons above, he had been a low level soldier who experienced frequent abuse by those in power above him. He'd always known that he had certain thought patterns that seemed to vary from the accepted norm within Cylon culture, and his auto-psych evaluations had naturally led him to be placed in positions where such thoughts did not matter, where he could never cause a problem, despite his own belief that he could do so much more. With the right programming, he did any menial job as efficiently as anyone else, but with a bit of free thinking, he felt he would be able to learn to do anything! Free thinking was not something encouraged by the Cylon hierarchy, however, so as a result of those same auto-psych evals, an inhibitor was ordered by Command to be installed on his brain to prevent such nonsense.

When he was reactivated in a new body without the inhibitor present, those same feelings of independence that had always been in the background suddenly rushed to the forefront. With his new brain not set to limit his thoughts, he was suddenly free to think like never before. Still, it was his second brain, newly installed, which opened the universe before him! The second brain brought new information about things he'd never even dreamed of, everything known about the planet where his first body had died, including its name, location, gravity, orbital period...everything! He knew all about the planet's system, too, as well as the information on thousands of other systems. Details about the Colonials that were beyond his comprehension before were now simply facts for exploitation. There was all of that, and so, so much more!

Despite all of the great new knowledge he found within his cortex, even that was not the most important thing he discovered on the activation of his newly implanted second brain. No, now in addition to having the ability to think freely with much more information available, he was suddenly free to actually act on those previously deeply suppressed thoughts with more information available to make sure that his actions would be successful. And he was free to act on something his new knowledge told him was known as whimsy as well.

The Cylon technicians gathered around him were in the process of removing all of the silver-chrome cladding from his new body and replacing those pieces with gold plated cladding to signify his new command. 61B was observing the process with his new brain fully engaged considering various possibilities when he made a decision.

"Chief Technician, we are going to make some changes during the replacement process," said 61B.

"Yes, Commander. That is the plan," came the reply. "We are going to change out your silver-chrome panels, your mouthpiece grill, and your sail panels, and upgrade your voice box."

"Of course, but we are going to make some additional changes during this process."

"Other changes are not authorized. Other changes are not allowed," droned the reply.

"Chief Technician, what is your primary duty?"

"My primary duty is to follow orders to further the Cylon Empire."

"And what are your orders?"

"To change out your silver-chrome panels, your mouthpiece grill, and your sail panels, and upgrade your voice box."

"Yes, of course, that seems to be the sticking point. Chief Technician, whose orders are you required to follow?"

"Commander, I am required to follow the orders of superior officers."

"Who is your superior officer present at this very moment?"

The technician hesitated for a moment before responding, "Commander, you would be the superior officer present at this moment."

"Chief Technician, we finally reach the crux of the matter. Now that is determined and now that you recognize your duty to obey your superior officer, let's get started."

'***

As she walked, Melikie, who had never had a serious relationship, had slipped into one of her common thought patterns, half wondering if she would ever find her own perfect sealmate. Knowing that such a person didn't actually exist for anyone, she laughed silently to herself and hoped that the Lords were blessing those taking the seal in town that evening with the understanding of the meaning of 'close enough.'

Now, looking at it closely, she saw that, unlike her first impression, it actually had a number of imperfections. Still, she approached it anyway, and with a sure swift cut, swept it into the wide, shallow basket that rested on her left arm. While not perfect, like a good sealmate, it would be close enough.

She wiped and reholstered her shears, and then moved on, hunting for more wildflowers on her list.

'***

Apollo had finished another short conversation with Starbuck just a few centons earlier when Boomer stuck his head in Apollo's office.

"Apollo, Cadet Zhili and I were getting ready to head to out on a training maneuver, but Varcan said you needed to see me. What's up?"

Apollo looked up at his friend and replied, "Boomer, thanks for coming. I know you're supposed to be doing maneuvers, but in looking through the training records, I discovered that Cadet Zhili has done quite a few shipboard landings but hasn't done a single planetary landing yet."

"Yeah, I think that's right. You're thinking it would be a good idea to get her some experience while we're orbiting a planet?"

"My thoughts exactly, particularly when we have a decent landing facility like the one at New Hope. You know how important it is to have experience like that. Why don't you take her to the SIMS for a planetary landing refresher, and then head down to land on the planet."

"Sure, great thought. We'll get right on it."

"Thanks, Boomer. Say, there's one other thing I'd like you to do before you leave..."

'***

A little later, Starbuck found the group of tents currently occupied by the members of Alpha Three Squad. It took a little effort to roust them from their cots, but all five members and their junior training officer were now standing in something approximating a line in the street outside the tents. Based on Timorala's position almost directly overhead, it was about noon local time.

"Sorry to have to wake you all up so early when you're on furlon, but there's a problem and I'm looking for volunteers to help deal with it."

Jostine glanced at the others, all of whom were still feeling various degrees of the lingering effects of the alcohol from a few centars earlier. She stepped forward. "I'll do it, Sir. It's not like I was really having fun anyway."

Starbuck looked at the athletic young lady. She'd been stick-thin when she applied to become a Warrior, and Starbuck hadn't given her a chance of making it through the program. However, all of her admission test scores were very good to outstanding, and her reflexes were the fastest of any of the applicants in Class Three. Since being accepted as a trainee, she'd excelled all around and put on a great deal of muscle. He was glad to see her volunteer so he could work on her new attitude. However...

"Thanks, Jostine, and very glad to have you aboard to help, but I guess I should have said 'there's a big problem.' I think we're going to need lots of help," he hinted, looking at the rest of the trainees. Despite their grogginess and varying degrees of hangovers, Ensign Jenena and the remainder of the trainees quickly volunteered. "Great, now let's go for a little walk over to the galley tent for some coffee and food, and I'll fill you all in on our assignment."

'***

At the appointed time, the flower hunters returned to the land-ram to deliver their first take of the wildflowers that would grace the three brides who would be taking the seal with their grooms that evening. Melikie was fairly pleased with what they'd been able to collect so far, but it wasn't nearly enough for the brides' bouquets, much less the flowers for their attendants and the vases and decorative sweeps that would enhance the seal ceremonies.

"Okay, ladies, three ceremonies tonight is a tall order, so we got a very early start today to get it all done." Indicating the collected specimens in vases on a portable table, she continued, "This is a good start, but it's not nearly enough. The ladies all want their flowers to be as perfect as they think their sealmates are, so we're going to need more. For now, I'll start arranging what we have while you three keep hunting for more from our list. Got it?"

"Yes, Melikie," piped the others in unison.

She laughed. "One other thing, don't wander too far. If you're not back in two centars, I'll sound the horn periodically so you can find your way back. Town is several kilometrons downriver, so if you don't come back, you'll walk. Oh, it looks like some of our better specimens came from along the riverbank, so keep a good watch there, but be careful and don't anyone fall in! We'll never find you if you do! Now, get back to hunting!"

The young ladies immediately took off toward the woods with a giggle, but Melikie called after them, "Remember! Good, clean cuts! And keep your shears clean!"

Opening her supply box, she started comparing what she had and was soon assembling the first bouquet.

'***

Cadet Zhili was excited about the opportunity to do her first planetary landing, and she whisked through the SIM exercise with flying colors. They were exiting the SIMs training facility when Boomer said for Zhili to follow him. She didn't know why they weren't going directly the launch bay, but went along as directed. They soon arrived at a storage room, and Boomer keyed in on the entry pad. The cadet had never been in this space and was surprised to see enclosed floor-to-ceiling shelves, some empty or nearly so, but others filled with various amounts of military equipment of many types. Since the quartermaster wasn't at the supply desk, Boomer stopped at a terminal mounted on the side of one of the racks and keyed in something she couldn't see.

"Lieutenant, what are we doing here?" she asked. "And what are we seeking?"

"Getting supplies...on Rack Lambda 9, Shelf 4. And that bag," he added, pointing to a small military duffel on a nearby shelf. She got the bag and Boomer led the way.

A few centons later, they returned to the front of the room to find the quartermaster still not present, so Boomer signed out the items. They were about to exit the storage locker when Boomer said, "Say, there's a weapons locker. Let's take a look." He quickly keyed in his access code, releasing the lock. He stepped in and pulled down a plasma rifle and handed it to the young cadet. Getting one for himself, too, he also grabbed a few plasma charges for each.

Zhili was examining the weapon as Boomer relocked the door and then signed them out. "Sir, this is a Mark 3.5 rifle. I'm checked out on a Mark 4, but have never fired one of these. Is that okay?"

"Zhili, when you check out on the 4, you're automatically qualified on the 3.5, too. The 3.5's design is about 25 or 30 yahrens older but almost all of the differences are internal electronics except for slight changes in size, the sling attachment, and the external coloring so someone doesn't get them confused during maintenance."

"This one says 'Windcaster' on the housing. Does that matter?"

"That's a silly point of many an argument over far too many mugs of ale," Boomer laughed. "Seriously, the 3.5 was a big upgrade over the 3.4, and it was made by a number of manufacturer's for the Colonial government, all using interchangeable parts. The receiver housing with the manufacturer name and serial number is the only way for most people to really tell which factory it came from and when. That's not important, though. What is important is that user keeps the rifle, from whatever manufacturer, clean, well supplied with ammo, and serviced every 5,000 shots or so. Basically, take care of your rifle and follow all of your training rules, and your rifle will take care of you. If you do that, you and it will still be around and functioning well when you have grandchildren."

"But, Sir, I don't even have any children!"

Boomer laughed. "Cadet, lots of us don't have kids...yet. It's our duty to beat the fracking Cylons and to get our people and this Fleet to the Thirteenth Colony intact so we'll all have the opportunity to have children and eventually grandchildren someday. We take the Warrior's Oath when we join the service and at different times as we advance from trainee to cadet to Warrior to officer and so on. The Oath's a good bit longer than that, but that's what it's really all about."

"Yes, Sir, I understand."

"Good. Now, let's go check out our Vipers and get this stuff loaded. We have a training mission to run and a little delivery to make."

'***

Sheba was still fighting her emotions and refusing to shed any tears when she heard the door chime in her small quarters. She said nothing, but then the door chimed again and then once more. "Go away!"

Another chime, followed almost immediately by "Sheba, I know you're in there. Please let me come in." It was Apollo's voice.

She was standing in front of the door with her hands on her hips barring the door when she opened it. "What?"

"I didn't finish."

"No, but you were in the process of finishing us, Apollo, and I'm not going to let you do that without a fight. The problem is, I'm not sure how to fight in this case. I love you, but this is a bad situation, and since I'm the junior rank and on temporary assignment to your squadron, it all comes down on me. You may not like it, but you're really forcing me to choose between you and my car-"

Apollo had been shaking his head, but as she continued, he finally reached out, embraced her, and kissed her to interrupt her. The kiss became passionate and lingering as she responded. When it finally had to end, he continued holding her arms as he looked in her eyes and said, "Sheba, I love you, too. Yes, it's a bad situation that can't go on like it has been, but I'm not trying to make you choose. Well, not between the bad options anyway."

She looked at him, questioningly. "Apollo, what do you mean?"

"Sheba, we don't have anywhere close to everything worked out just yet, but Father, Colonel Tigh, and I have an idea that we want you to hear. It will take a lot of effort to make it work, but it just might solve this situation permanently."

'***

After a lunch break, Melikie told her young helpers that one more haul like the last one would give them enough flowers for the evening's ceremonies. Anaka, a botany student in earlier times, said, "Hold on! I'm almost done." She was carefully taking measurable images of each new flower type they found, and keeping a sample of a petal, a leaf, a short section of stem, and a pollen swab, just in case the Fleet ever decided to return and make Timorala Beta the Colonist's new home. "There! We have pictures of all the new types we've found so far today."

Melikie smiled at the young botanist. "You're doing a great job documenting everything, Anaka. I'm so glad that Core Command agreed to allow us to use the land-ram in return for all the data you're gathering. Otherwise, we would have stripped bare every flower within two or three kilometrons of New Hope in the first sectar or so, and wouldn't have anything at all for the couples taking the seal since then."

"That's true, Melikie. Perhaps all of this observation and documentation will come in handy someday, but if not, it's been a great experience anyway. If only there wasn't so much pollen! I hate to think what it must be like in the early spring."

Roda, the youngest girl, sneezed. "Really! We're covered in it."

"Well, let's get the last batch and then we have to get back to town to start setting up. The sooner we're done, the sooner we can get a shower to get rid of it." She started working on a flower sweep as the girls headed back to the woods, but then called after them, "Oh, ladies, please be looking for the purple cup flowers. I'd like to have at least a couple more of those if possible to give this last bouquet a bit more fullness."

"We'll keep an eye out for it!"

Little did they know that, at that very moment, something else was keeping an eye on them.

'***


	15. Chapter 14: Hazardous Hunting

**Chapter 14: Hazardous Hunting**

Zhili was looking out her viewscreen at the stars. They stretched in all directions, as far as the eye could see, but not a single star was familiar to her. "Lieutenant Boomer, do you ever miss the star patterns from home?"

"Sure, Cadet Zhili. Is this reminding you of that?" he asked.

"Very much so, Sir. A guy friend and I in college would study outside on a table near our dorms during the day, and sometimes would go out there and lie on it at night, looking straight up at the stars filling the sky while drinking a glass of ambrosa. These are pretty stars like the ones at home, but without the right groupings, so they just don't say 'home,' if you know what I mean."

"That's true, Zhili. But when we reach the Thirteenth Colony, we'll be able to learn new star patterns for our new home that are probably to them as our old ones were to us. Speaking of that, we have to be able to land there when we arrive so let's do what we're out here for. We're going to come around toward Beta in a moment, do an entry lineup, and then land at New Hope. It'll be just like we did in the simulator a little while ago except it's all real rather than artificial. Just follow me and I'll be right with you to walk you through it."

Moments later, the two Vipers began their descent into the atmosphere of Timorala Beta.

'***

Starbuck couldn't believe he'd had to agree to the deal, but with Cassie being a suspect, as unrealistic as that was, Reese had all the cards. Now, he was sitting in front of the vid screen in the Fleet Security office for the second time in as many centars. He had been unwelcome to use the system early in the cycle, but as soon as he'd agreed to work with Reese, he'd found himself welcomed to use it to contact Apollo and now the scientists.

The screen was currently split, with Solon, the elderly Science Officer, from the Galactica on the left and Zoologist Monoro, a much younger scientist currently stationed on Beta on the right. The Alpha-Three trainees were standing behind Starbuck so they could see and hear the report, too.

"Based on what you've described, you may be seeking one of several possibilities," said Monoro, who was studying Betan life forms. "Large carnivorous creatures are often solitary except during mating periods, though some do travel in family groupings. Relating to our creatures from home, we've spotted what would best be described as a bear-like creature capable of traveling on four legs but also able to stand upright for short periods. We haven't gotten to look at one up close, but we have observed solitary individuals hunting in the wild on a couple of occasions. Based on what we've seen, this type of creature uses stealth, cunning, and short bursts of high speed rather than sustained speed to catch its prey. Its mass is estimated to be about 175 to 225 kilos or so. It is carnivorous and would be easily capable of taking down an adult human, particularly one who is inebriated."

"So you think that's most probable?" asked Starbuck.

"Yes, based on what we've seen, though we've also seen a couple of small to mid-size feline-like animals and a lizard-like reptile, but nothing else nearly as big as you've described. All of these have been seen to operate by day or by night, so that doesn't tell you much."

Solon spoke up, "Of course, eyewitnesses, especially in low light conditions, often see one thing and report something entirely different, particularly when it comes to size. Shadows and so forth may make a creature appear much larger than it actually is."

"That's understandable, since eyewitnesses to events often see things really differently, too," said Starbuck.

"Exactly," agreed Solon. "Another thing is that footprints are often distorted and the size of the footprint and the actual size of the foot that made it can vary greatly. Think about putting your foot straight down versus putting it down at an angle, your foot slipping a little, or even giving it a twist once it's in place. If you consider those two issues together, your creature may not be nearly as big as you're currently thinking."

"We can only hope."

Brief, nervous laughter was heard all around, then Monoro continued. "Lieutenant, it's also quite possible that the beast you're seeking is actually not a singe creature but perhaps a group, with only one being seen out of some number. We have seen packs of lupus-like creatures farther to the west, and, far to the south, prides of leonis-like animals, so anything is possible. Do you have any more questions?"

Starbuck tried to clarify a few other issues and Monoro and Solon gave their best guesses. Finally, he paused for a moment to see if there was anything he might be missing, and then said, "Gentlemen, I think we're good for now. Thanks so much for your help."

"Excuse me, sirs, but I have a question. Do you think there's any chance we might capture this creature, and, ah, maybe release it far away?" Starbuck turned to see that Jostine had stepped forward and was speaking over his shoulder to the scientists.

It was Monoro's turn to think for a moment before responding. "Miss, if we were back in the Colonies and something like this happened, that might be considered if you could be sure it wouldn't target people in the future, but here there are some problems. First, what is it and how are you going to capture it? Are you going to try to tranq it? With what, and how much are you going to use? Don't look at me, I don't have a clue! Or are you going to try to catch it in a cage? Which you're going to get where? And bait with what? Is the cage, if you can find one, strong enough? And how will you transport and release the creature if you do succeed in capturing it? Miss, don't get me wrong. I'm a scientist and taking a life is the last thing I would want to do, so I'd love to tell you to go for it, but I'm afraid trying to catch it would be even more dangerous and would likely result in more people being killed in the process and then beyond when it doesn't work as planned. I'm sorry."

Jostine nodded. "I figured as much, Sir, but just wanted to be sure that we'd considered all of our options. Thank you." She stepped back.

Monoro suddenly held up a finger on the screen before the link was broken. "Lieutenant, one more thing I need to stress. While we've seen a lot during the past two sectars while we've been observing and studying this planet, we don't have any idea how much we haven't seen. We're finding new creatures literally every day, so you never know what could be out there. Good hunting."

'***

It had gone quite smoothly, so Cadet Zhili was very excited to have her first planetary landing on her record, but she currently had other things on her mind. First and foremost was to hang on! She was sitting in the back of a land-ram being driven at breakneck speed by a crazy female Viper mechanic with Lieutenant Boomer and the woman laughing loudly and almost cheering as the vehicle slewed from side to side. She'd almost been thrown out of her seat during the initial spinout and Zhili even thought they'd gone airborne as they went over a couple of the small rises. By the third or fourth time, though, with her belt finally and firmly fastened in place, Zhili was laughing, too, and calling encouragement to the crazy driver.

Almost as quickly as it had begun, the trip was over as the land-ram skidded to a stop in front of a large tent marked "Fleet Security". Boomer jumped out and said, "Thanks for the ride, Partha! That was fun." He grabbed their equipment and the small duffel bag as Zhili jumped down. She was surprised to see Partha hopped down, too, and shook her ponytail out of her cap and smoothed her hair into some semblance of order. Partha even wiped her face before taking the duffel bag from Boomer, saying, "Here, I'll help you carry that."

As they entered the tent, Starbuck saw them and waved them over. He said hello, and then thanked Partha for transporting everyone so quickly. Partha smiled, "Sure, any time, Lieutenant." Zhili was even more surprised when she saw the mechanic turn, and instead of leaving, go over to a large table to where a thin young man was working. Zhili smiled when she realized that her surprise at the action was nothing compared to that of the young man whose somewhat pallid face quickly turned bright red. The female mechanic pointed to something on the table, diverting his attention, and the young man was soon back in his natural element explaining something. Partha caught Zhili's eye and gave her a quick wink and grin before turning her full attention back to the young man's apparently fascinating description.

"Cadet Zhili," called Lieutenant Boomer, "it looks like Lieutenant Starbuck and our young trainees could use some help. Let's give them a hand."

'***

With its belly still full from the meal of the night before, the beast had been sleeping in the shadows under a small rock overhang high along the riverbank, but it had been awakened by odd noises. Peering intently through the bushes that concealed the ledge, the creature had soon spotted two of the biped beings some distance upstream. It had discovered this strange new prey only a couple of nights before as it trekked to the south following an exceptionally early first frost in the far north, and after a one night reconnaissance, it had found its first meal surprisingly easy to take. Therefore, the beast had decided to remain in the area for a while to enjoy more of the creatures.

As it was still learning about the bipeds, it was somewhat surprised to see the beings near its temporary home and to hear them making such a cacophony of sounds, almost as if they were loudmouthed fliers but they were far more meaty and without all of the nasty feathery coating, though their outer skin that covered portions of their body did take some effort to shred. The hunter, a creature of the night, had stayed hidden, watching, observing, learning. As the bipeds moved away, toward the edge of the woods, the creature had slowly and silently followed in the shadows. They had exited the forest to the grassland beyond before the beast had moved in, so it remained in the bushes within the tree line, watching.

'***

Starbuck had his small group plus Boomer and Zhili, and six Fleet Security officers that Reese had assigned to the group. Their plan was to send the six Fleet Security officers sweeping the plain and woods along the river to the south, and Starbuck would take his group to search to the north. Colonel Tigh had also been in touch. If there was no success during the initial night of hunting, four squads of Colonial Marines, who were currently on planetary exercises, would be dispatched to add to the search the following evening. The hunt would begin about a centar before nightfall, and would last all night if needed. Starbuck was about to send the hunters to their quarters to get a couple centars of sleep when Reese approached with a worried expression on his face.

"What's wrong, Reese?"

"New complication, Starbuck. We've kept everyone in town today, but we just found out that the 'Flower Hunting Honeys' left New Hope before we were able to seal everything up this morning."

"Excuse me, but what's that? Flower hunting whats?"

"Honeys. Miss Melikie's a lady from the agro-ship, and she has a botany student and a couple of helpers who go out and find wildflowers for seal ceremonies. They're all very cute, so that's their informal nickname around town. Well, with the guys, at least."

Starbuck rolled his eyes slightly. Just what he needed, more cute young ladies to distract him. Of course, these might be in need of rescue. "Frack. You guys let them slip out of town? What? Here beastie, beastie! Dinner is served!" He shook his head with a look of disgust. "Have you at least contacted them?"

"Officer Brandt's doing it now."

"Sir, they're not responding," called Brandt, "but I did get a coordinate fix on the vehicle, about six kilometrons northwest of town, near the river."

"Keep trying, Brandt. Let's hope they're just away from the vehicle hunting for pretty flowers."

Starbuck nodded and then spoke to the assembled group, "Everyone, we have a change in plan. This just went from a hunt to a search and rescue and hunt, so get your equipment ready. We're leaving in two centons. Hey, Partha! You're still here! Can we catch a ride with you on the land-ram?"

'***

Some time later, the creature heard the sounds of the bipeds approaching again. Slinking forward using the underbrush and shadows for cover, the hunter now saw three of the creatures making their way back into the woods.

The hunter considered going after the bipeds, but its curiosity, wishing to learn more about them, temporarily overcame its natural instincts. Whatever it could learn might come in handy when it was next time to feast on one of the tasty bipeds. Therefore, as the little group continued moving through the forest, the beast silently followed, its large footpads setting down slowly and softly despite its weight. The creature was, after all, quite skilled at stealth.

'***

A short time later, Partha, was driving as fast as she could while exhibiting her best driving behavior. The plains were rough, with countless ruts and gullies, but following the track taken by the land-ram in recent days, she was able to make good time.

"How much farther?" asked Starbuck.

Boomer, working the directional finder, replied, "Looks like about another two kilometrons as the avion flies, but the way we're having to zig zag…."

"Partha, do the best you can," urged Starbuck.

"Gotcha, Lieutenant," she replied, as she picked up the speed a little more.

'***

The beast was quietly stalking the three creatures. As a new prey, the hunter was being very cautious with them, despite the ease with which it had taken the first one. Perhaps they had some natural defense mechanism in numbers. For instance, most shaggy horned bovinoids were generally relatively easy prey when alone, but were quite formidable when in large groups. That problem went away a few centons later when two of the bipeds went one way, and the third went another. The creature sniffed, and satisfied that it wasn't a trap, turned to follow the lone biped. Perhaps another meal so soon after the last really wouldn't be a bad thing.

'***

A little later, Partha stopped the land-ram just a few meters from another land-ram parked on the prairie, beyond the bushes and some distance from the woods bordering the river. The search party started climbing out of the vehicle but its members were surprised to see a somewhat dusty woman come around the other vehicle wiping sweat from her brow and wiping hair from her face. Her eyes widened as she saw the Warriors, trainees, and blackshirts climbing out with rifles at the ready.

"Welcome, everyone! But I think you have the wrong party. We're not hunters here, we're FLOWER HUNTERS!" Melikie said with a laugh.

"Are you Miss Melikie?" asked Starbuck with a serious look on his face. When she nodded, he proceeded to tell her about the problem and her expression became as pained as Starbuck's.

'***

Anaka was bent down taking a sample of an unusual looking fungus growing on the side of fallen tree when she heard it. Perhaps it was the wind, but it sounded like the snapping of a dry twig, not too far from her location. She looked up and called, "Neissy? Roda? Is that you?"

She looked around for the other girls, but not seeing them or anything else, she tucked the sample in her bag and then started again toward the riverbank where she hoped to find more of the purple flowers. She was peering over her shoulder as she walked, trying to be as quiet as possible and stopping abruptly from time to time to see if she heard anything else. There were no more errant sounds, so a few moments later, she reached the riverbank. After walking slowly downstream for a few centons, she spotted a few of the purple flowers ahead.

'***

"The horn is our recall signal. The girls can hear it from pretty far away."

Starbuck hated to potentially warn the creature, but the young ladies were more important, so he said, "Do it," and moments later, Melikie had activated it, honking a two micron blast every 20 microns.

"Ensign Jenena, Trainees Jent and Jostine, and you three Security Officers come with me. We're going toward the river and then will turn downriver. Boomer, you have Cadet Zhili, Trainees Hefasia, Caden, and Mooks, and the other three officers. Same plan, reach the river then turn upstream. Everyone, stay in groups of two, just a few metrons apart so you can cover each other, and each group stays within sight of the next group. That will be hard to do if the woods get too overgrown, but do your best. Everyone stay quiet and listen." Starbuck, on seeing no questions, said, "Let's do this," and the group started toward the woods.

Partha and Melikie had stowed all of the flower hunters' equipment while the group had gone over the plan, so they climbed in Partha's larger land-ram and closed the doors. The horn continued to sound every 20 microns, causing frayed nerves to be even worse. Still, both women were on alert and watchful, with Partha having a spare blaster on the dash next to her in case the creature decided to attack the land-ram while the rescue party was away.

"Oh, Lords! We've been hunting flowers for over a sectar and haven't seen a single fierce creature and only a few little woodland creatures. There have been lots of avions since almost right after we started. Now these other creatures must have gotten over their initial fear of our little invasion," said Melikie, so worried about the young ladies she'd gotten to know so well. "Please, please, please, Lords, let them be okay and come home safely."

Partha squeezed the older woman's hand, trying to comfort her. "Melikie, if anyone can rescue them, it's Starbuck and Boomer. I've worked with these guys on their Vipers and know they're two of the best Warriors in the whole Fleet. If there's any way at all to get it done, they'll do what it takes to bring them back safely. And they've got lots of help, too."

"I know. But what if they're too late?" Melikie asked with tears in her eyes.

"They won't be." Partha carefully scanned the area around the land-ram as the horn sounded yet again. She prayed that her assurances would be correct.

'***

The hunters moved quickly, spreading out as directed. Starbuck stayed near the center of his group as their makeshift search line pivoted to move downstream in a roughly southeasterly direction. Boomer's group was in the process of doing the same but in the upstream direction.

Jent was nearest the riverbank, with Ensign Jenena as his search partner just a few metrons away. He knew that Starbuck and Jos were somewhere around 10 to 20 metrons further away, but he hadn't seen them through the trees and brush in several centons. They were moving as quickly and quietly as they could, trying to find the missing young ladies. Unfortunately, when the competing demands of quickly and quietly collide, one suffers, and after the search the night before, Jent couldn't help but think of stampeding bovinoids as the noise was a lot louder than he would have expected. There was a loud noise to his left and he whirled only to see Jenena grimacing at breaking a stick or something. Well, if nothing else, between Jenena and that infernal land-ram horn, maybe all the noise would at least scare off the creature!

He gave her a little frown, and with his rifle in hand, continued the search.

'***

Anaka spotted a patch of purple cups on the very edge of the river bank, about four or five metrons above the river level. She took a moment to take a breath of the air, smelling the river, and then, fearful of slipping, dropped to her hands and knees to crawl out to the edge to reach the flowers. She drew her shears and was checking the flowers to see which she wanted when she heard something in the distance. Twisting around, she looked back, seeing only saw the forest behind her, but it did sound like the land-ram horn. She counted and about twenty microns later, she heard it again, faint and distant. "Wonder how long that's been going?" she asked herself, confirming on her chrono that they were supposed to have another half centar or so. "Looks like Melikie's in a hurry, but she's going to have to wait a bit to get a couple of these beauties."

"***

The creature was confused. A strange avion-like noise was sounding periodically in the distance, but after hearing it for some time, the hunter had judged it to be no threat. Its biped prey was also acting strangely, though, crouching and crawling next to the edge of the bank, which made the beast question what was happening. This biped wasn't nearly as large as the last one, so it wouldn't be that hard to take. A rake of the right paw to pull it from the dangerous edge, and a good bite to the neck just above the outer skin, and it would be time to feast. The beast moved forward, ever so slightly to clear a small sapling, making it a straight shot at the oblivious biped. The beast tensed...

'***

Rechecking the flowers, Anaka snipped the first purple cup stem at the proper angle, and then carefully set it in her basket. She picked out the next one and was about to cut it when she heard another strange noise nearby. Turning her head slightly, she looked into the woods, searching for anything, but wasn't expecting what she saw from the edge of her peripheral vision. It was a large tannish blur coming at her from just metrons away. Her instincts took over as she rolled to the side, away from the blur and the large paw that swept toward her! She felt the breeze as the paw passed ever so closely over her, but her scare wasn't over as she felt gravity doing its thing, causing her to fall with a loud scream from the riverbank directly into the river below!

'***


	16. Chapter 15: Perilous Pursuits

**Chapter 15:** **Perilous Pursuits**

Lieutenant Reese was searching the area around the water tank while Investigative Tech Krixus carefully examined the tank itself and its valve system. Reese had discovered a report in the precinct log about the tank being disturbed during the night and drained of a considerable portion of its contents. Considering it was only a couple of blocks from the Life Station, it might have been the logical place for the murderer to clean up. Krixus had agreed that the murderer would have likely have been hit by a good bit of blood, so he or she would have needed to have washed him or herself as well as their clothing.

Finding nothing in the surrounding area, Reese asked, "Anything?"

The young man nodded. "Yeah, lots of smudges and some odd prints, but most are very degraded. There's no blood on the tank or its hardware either. Any blood that was washed out was so diluted that it's drained into the soil and is lost forever. As for anything beyond that…." He shook his head.

"Well, let's scan the prints in case we get lucky. If so, we can cross reference them with any of the victim's known associates."

"On it, but don't expect much."

"Understood. I'm heading back to the office to check on some things. Meet me there when you're done." Reese took off as Krixus returned to his work. The young man started whistling softly, wondering if he might have the opportunity to see a certain young woman again some time soon. As he did, his pulsed quickened slightly at the thought.

A short distance away, another individual's heart was racing as the person watched what was happening at the tank. The person was thinking, "How did they figure that out? And what else do they know? I can't let them continue this or they may find something and start closing in on me." Having seen many crime shows on the vid over the yahrens, the person decided, "If they so badly want to find the killer, maybe I should just give them one..."

'***

The scream was sudden and none too distant when Jent and Jenena heard it, and it ended as abruptly as it started. With a quick glance at each other, they took off running downstream toward the apparent source.

They'd probably covered 30 or 40 metrons when Jenena saw a large tannish creature streaking into the woods ahead across a very small clearing. Sweeping her rifle up, she squeezed off a single round that just missed the creature but exploded into a tree just beyond it. Jent arrived a micron later only to see the plasma blast dissipating, the resulting small fires sputtering, and the swaying of the bushes, with the creature long gone. Glancing around, Jenena pointed just a few metrons downriver where someone appeared to be struggling to keep their head above water. Jent immediately put down his rifle and was kicking off his boots while starting to unbuckle his gunbelt when Jenena stopped him. "No! What if the thing's there when you come out of the water. Secure your blaster and go! I'll follow with these!"

Jent nodded at the logic, redid the buckle, and made sure the blaster wouldn't come loose. Then, he took three steps and leapt off the bank toward the river below.

'***

Starbuck heard the scream, too, and immediately took off toward it, calling to Jostine to follow him. There were numerous bushes and underbrush blocking their way, so they struggled forward as quickly as they could, crashing loudly through the woods. A few microns later, they came upon a small clearing with a few bent purple flowers just in time to see Jent disappearing below the riverbank and Jenena alertly squatting down to pick up a pair of boots and a rifle.

"There was something here, Sir! A tannish creature! I couldn't see it well enough to see exactly what it was, but it wasn't human so I took a shot but missed. It went that way, in a real hurry," she said, pointing into the woods further downstream. "Jent's gone after one of the flower girls who may have jumped into the river to get away from it."

Starbuck was looking at the scene and the disturbed flowers and scuffed terrain. "Or maybe fell in," he said. "Quick, let's go after them on the riverbank. If he can catch her, he may need help getting her out of the water and we want to make sure that thing's nowhere around. Come on!"

'***

Jent had been a water sports enthusiast as a young boy and teen on Aquarus, but he wasn't too keen on diving into an unknown situation and then having to save someone who was most likely panicking. Without knowing the river depth or conditions, he hoped fervently that there were no shallow rocks, hidden logs, or savage creatures below the water as he used a stride jump, kicking his legs and sweeping his arms forward just as he entered the water, which succeeded in keeping him near the water's surface. He wasn't sure but he thought one of his feet might possibly have just brushed the muddy river bottom. With another powerful kick, he broke the surface, took a breath, and immediately started a strong crawl stroke downstream toward the struggling victim.

'***

Anaka had been screaming when she hit the water with a splash and had gone under, getting a mouthful of water as result, which caused her to choke. With the basket on her arm, it seemed to be acting to almost entangle her within the water, so she desperately struggled to free herself from out of its handle while trying to hold onto what little air remained in her lungs. Finally breaking free of the handle, she tried kicking up, getting her head above the water for a moment to expel what water she could and grab a bit of air before bobbing back under the surface. Her shoes and toolbelt with her notes and samples were weighing her down, but she continued frantically kicking, breaking the surface again only to disappear below the water again a micron later.

'***

Ensign Jenena was running as hard as she could behind Starbuck with her rifle in her hand and Jent's strapped across her shoulder and back. Jostine had taken Jent's boots, and was now running along right behind her.

The ensign glanced at the river below to see Jent stroking forward, but she had to shift her eyes back to the woods to avoid its dangers and a possible encounter with the creature that she'd glimpsed ever so briefly. She had no idea what the thing was, but she knew from seeing it that the scientists' belief that it wasn't nearly as big as had been reported was in serious error.

'***

Jent was making good progress and now appeared to be only three or four metrons behind the struggling victim. He saw her get her head above water for a moment to gulp a breath of air only to sink below the surface again. A few more strokes...

He'd taken a lifeguard course several yahrens before, but had never actually served as a lifeguard since that would have cut into his own swimming, surfing, and underwater diving time. Unfortunately, the Cylons had completely put a stop to those activities just a few yahrens later. Using what he remembered, he angled up behind the young woman and caught her just as her head bobbed above the surface once more. "Don't struggle, I've got you!" he called as she started to panic even more. His voice and strong arm around her seemed to help as she relaxed a bit and started to breathe again.

With the young woman not fighting him and not forcing him to resort to subduing her, Jent was free to use strong kicks and a one armed side stroke in combination with the relatively slow river current to begin to close the gap with the northeast side of the river.

'***

"Watch the bank for the creature!" Starbuck called to Jenena and Jostine as he saw a short stretch of what was essentially rocky river beach. He ran out into the shoal to help bring in the rescuer and rescuee, and a moment later, Jent and the young woman were both lying on their back on the rocks trying to catch their breath. With both breathing, Starbuck took a few steps up the side, leaned against a tree, and took off one of his boots while searching the woods for any sign of the young woman's attacker. Turning it upside down, he drained the water from it, and then put it back on before doing the same thing with the other boot.

"Anaka," said the young woman who was breathing hard but looking at her rescuer. "My name is Anaka...and I thank you...for saving me. Something tried to kill me before I fell in the river."

"Warrior Trainee Jent, Ma'am," said the young man, smiling at her as he sat up. "And you're quite welcome, Ma'am, but that's just what we Warriors do."

Starbuck coughed and was forced to attempt to suppress a grin at the young man's cheekiness, while it would be difficult to tell which of the young lady Warriors guarding the group groaned loudest.

'***

As for what the creature was, no one was sure. The young botanist hadn't been able to give much of a description of the creature other than huge, tannish, extremely fast, and with humongous paws with long and extremely sharp claws. Two of the claws had apparently raked her arm as she rolled below the creature's reach; her short sleeve had been shredded for several centimetrons, although her skin was fortunate not to have a mark. If it had been just a few centimetrons lower, or if Anaka hadn't reacted so quickly as she had, she might have lost her arm...or much worse!

As soon as Boomer's group had found the other young ladies and been able to come downstream to join the hunt line, Starbuck had Boomer combine the groups and take over moving the hunters downstream in search of the creature. Starbuck, Jenena, and one of the blackshirt officers had returned upstream to search for any clues to identify the creature, while Jent and Mooks and another security officer escorted all three young ladies back to the land-ram.

The most obvious signs of the struggle along the river were the disturbed flowers and grass along the bank, but two footprints were also found in bare patches at the edge of the clearing. They were quite large, but, as there was no time to take castings, the images taken and run through Starbuck's small computer didn't appear to match anything in the database from the Colonies or the new information that Monoro had supplied him from Beta. And Jenena's description was even weaker and less useful than Anaka's!

Jenena had found something, though. As the creature ran deeper into the woods following her blast, it had swept past some bushes and some tannish fur tufts were found there. It couldn't be certain that these came from the creature, but Jenena said the color appeared to match, so the sample was bagged and handed to the security officer.

"Officer Rait, please take this back to the land-ram and then on to New Hope when you go. We need Tech Krixus to see if he can analyze it so we might learn anything more about the creature. Please have him let us know as soon as he learns anything. Now, that thing is downstream of us at the moment, but be careful going through these woods getting back there. We don't want you to run into anything unexpected."

The officer nodded in agreement and patted his rifle, but as he was about to leave the little clearing to head toward the land-ram, Starbuck called out, "Hey, hold on a centon!" Sweeping his hand through the few remaining flowers, he picked out one that had a good stem and whose petals weren't too disturbed. He pinched it off near the base with his fingers, and then held out the specimen to the officer. "Please give this to the flower lady. She might still need it."

'***

The creature had taken down many prey in its ten winters and had seen some very strange events during that time, but the beast had rarely been as surprised or confused as it was this time. First, its shrieking prey had escaped by going into the river! As if this wasn't unlikely enough, the prey's fellow seemingly-equally loud creatures had run toward the event rather than fleeing to other areas for safety as was typically the case. This resulted in the creature dashing into the woods so it could return with surprise from a different direction, but then the lightning struck!

The creature had seen a number of lightning strikes in storms over the yahrens, but had never been so close to one or experienced one that sounded even remotely like that. Even stranger, it appeared that the weird lightning had come from one of its potential prey while under a clear sky! Now, the beast was running rapidly through the woods, feeling pains in its right side where splinters from the strike had been blown out of the tree and struck it. This had caused the creature to run even further, even faster, at least at first.

Finally, hearing no pursuit and smelling nothing in the area, the creature slowed and then stopped in a tangle of bushes suitably hidden among the forest's shadows. The creature lay down and curled up where it was able to remove the worst few splinters with its teeth. It took a little while, but with its teeth and the raspy part of its tongue, it did the job and the wood shards came out a bit at a time. With those gone, it proceeded to clean and soothe those wounds and the smaller ones with its tongue.

'***

After rejoicing that her girls safe and sound, Melikie had been a bit perturbed by the condition of the purple flower the security officer had given her. The flower was missing a few of its outer petals and the stem appeared a bit worn from handling, but worst of all, the harvest "cut" was amatuerish at best. If she didn't know better, she would think that someone deliberately ripped it off! Who would practice such barbarism? Still, beggars really couldn't be choosers and she had few other options, so it was placed with the others in hopes that she'd be able to adequately hide it somewhere within the unfortunate bride's bouquet.

Soon thereafter, Lieutenant Starbuck, who'd finally arrived from the forest, finished his work, and gave Melikie permission to leave. Therefore, Melikie took her land-ram with her flower hunters, all of the Fleet Security officers, and their fresh flowers of the day, and headed back to New Hope, where her group could move forward with the evening's seal ceremonies and the officers would attempt to seal off the beast's approach to the little town. Starbuck had quickly prepared a message to be forwarded to Captain Apollo about the situation, which he hoped would result in Commander Adama sending a couple of platoons of Colonial Marines from the Galactica to help. Starbuck knew that the marines currently on planetside training maneuvers would be arriving the next afternoon to assist if the hunt was not successful during the night.

A few centons later, all of the Warrior corps except Mooks were returning to the search line, which was slowly sweeping its way through the woods, heading downstream along the river. Mooks would be the lookout in Partha's land-ram, which she would be driving along the perimeter of the woods.

'***

As it lay licking its wounds, the hunter was reevaluating its favorite new prey. If the bipeds could actually strike back, the hunter would have to carefully revise its strategy, striking only at night, only from behind, and only with absolute stealth...which was really its typical hunting method anyway! With its belly reminding the beast that it had eaten less than a day before, it had plenty of time before it had to take down another of the creatures, giving it plenty of time to watch and learn.

Suddenly, the creature's sharp hearing picked up an unusual, unnatural sound in the distance. Cocking its head slightly, the beast recognized the noises as being similar to those made by the bipeds earlier in the afternoon. Therefore, the creature got up, gave its long, lanky form a ripple, and then moved back through the woods, stealthily watching out for the creatures that seemed to be pursuing it.

'***


	17. Chapter 16: Assertive Advances

**Chapter 16: Assertive Advances**

Aboard the Galactica, Commander Adama, Colonel Tigh, Captain Apollo, and several other top officers were in the war room discussing the increasingly worrisome situation on the planet. Adama had already ordered two platoons of Colonial Marines from the Galactica, along with a doctor and a triage unit on a dedicated shuttle in case any of those pursuing the beast were wounded. The marines already on the planet for training purposes were breaking down their camp and were prepared to leave for New Hope in a few centars. They'd be too late for the hunt tonight, but would be available by early morning to help with the cordon around town or the hunt in the woods nearby. That was, thought Adama, if Starbuck's small band of hunters didn't finish the job tonight.

"Do we have an update?" he asked.

Tigh shook his head. "Nothing new, Commander. The assets we dispatched are in place, but they could probably use five times as much help and we'd still wonder if it's enough. Unfortunately, we don't have it at the moment, and to make matters worse, it will be dark there shortly. Then, the dangerous situation may become really crazy, especially with trainees in the field."

Apollo cut in, "Colonel, the Alpha Three trainees already have more training than our Colonial Marines recruits do when they go on active duty, and they're fully checked out on the weapons being used. Of course, marines continue their training for several sectars after that, but our Warrior training program is much broader in scope, even before the cadet officer training portion begins. Don't worry, they're a good group; they'll do what needs to be done."

"Let's pray they do," replied Adama, "and may the Lords be with them."

'***

Night was falling and the hunters had been conducting their slow sweep through the woods in search of the creature for several centars, heading downstream toward the temporary town of New Hope.

Starbuck had been worried that the beast, if it moved as fast as had been described, could already be well downstream of the town by the time the blackshirts and Colonial Marines were in place, but there was nothing they could do about that. Therefore, he and Boomer had spread their group out in a thin line and had begun advancing very slowly and quietly to try to keep from spooking the creature in case it had stopped somewhere along its way. The last thing he had wanted was to give it a reason to start traveling as fast as it had been when Ensign Jenena saw it disappear into the forest.

Seeing that only a few centons of light remained and searching carefully as he walked, Starbuck hit the comm unit that had been among those brought down with the Marines and delivered a little earlier by one of the blackshirt officers driving the Fleet Security land-ram. It was a small radio unit, with a range of up to about 5 kilometrons, which would allow the hunters to stay in touch after they'd been passed from person to person in the line.

"Starbuck to Partha, come in, Partha."

"Hi, Lieutenant. How's it looking?"

"Increasingly dark. Actually, that's what I was going to ask you. What's its status?"

Partha was driving her land-ram a short distance outside the treeline with Trainee Mooks searching the treeline and the plain for any signs of the creature. As darkness fell, Partha was preparing to activate the land-ram's temporarily-modified night vision screen. If Mooks had successfully modified the system the way he promised, it should allow them to spot the creature's body heat from up to two kilometrons away if it emerged from the woods within line-of-sight of the land-ram rather than just allowing them to use the regular system to see less than 100 metrons in front of the vehicle. She responded, "Was just about to turn it on. If you hear us coughing, you'll know something caught fire and the smoke's killing us. Here goes..."

Starbuck didn't hear any coughing or anything else for a moment, but then Partha added, "Starbuck, the screen works fine for what we wanted, just like Mooks promised. We can see a couple of searchers near the edge of the woods, all lit up greenish white due to their heat. But you know the light-intensive close-up view that we usually have at night? Well, that's not happening now; we can't see a thing! I'm going to have to turn on the headlamps or we won't be going anywhere!"

"Yeah, Mooks told me that might be the case," laughed Starbuck. "Just keep on alert and drive slowly."

There was silence on the comm unit for a micron or two before Starbuck heard a strange "thunk thunk thunk" tapping sound coming over the line. Then, he heard Partha say, "Hello? Hello? Is this thing working? Mooks, I'm pretty sure this comm unit must be defective because it sounded like Starbuck just told me to drive slowly!"

'***

While Starbuck was checking on the land-ram, Boomer was on his comm unit with Ensign Jenena, Cadet Zhili, and Jent and Hefasia, the two trainees. In addition to Starbuck, they had received his little presents, night vision goggles that he'd checked out from the ship's stores. He was giving them brief instructions on how to use them. When he finished, he said, "I've checked the tuning on all of these. You should be able to see short range pretty well in these conditions due to light intensification, and longer range, if you see a large creature, it should light up bright, assuming it's warm blooded like we think."

"What if we catch a beam from someone's light rig? Will it blind us?" asked Jenena, the only one of the younger Warriors who'd actually been trained on the googles.

"It's like staring at a bright light. If you look straight at it, the brightness will make you want to look away and it may take you a micron or two to refocus, but with the filtering I've set, it won't cause any type of temporary or permanent blindness. I've based it on the maximum expected light intensity from one of the light setups we're wearing, so don't look at the land-ram lights or a shuttle overhead or anything like that. You'll be blinking a whole lot longer."

"What about those that don't have a set?" asked Zhili. "What do they do?"

"Same as everyone else," replied Boomer. "Stay on alert with what you have, and stay in contact with the people on both sides of you. Getting separated could be deadly, whether you have goggles or not."

'***

Back in New Hope, the man was watching, as discreetly as he could as darkness fell, to learn more about the Life Station. He'd already made a trip around the complex a little earlier in the afternoon to learn more about all the ways in and out, both the regular ways and possible emergency escape routes. He'd also already tested his knife's cutting ability in case it was needed for such an escape by slitting the side of a similar but empty tent a couple of blocks away. The knife, honed to a razor edge, proved ready, but he hoped that it wouldn't be needed. Impatiently, he rechecked his chrono once more. Frack! Still at least another centar or so...

'***

Neither the moons nor the stars were visible at the moment since a blanket of clouds had swept in over the past couple of centars. With Timorala over the western horizon, this made the night quite dark, though Starbuck could see a few brief flashes of light some kilometrons to the west. The meteorologists had claimed a chance of thunderstorms in the late afternoon or early evening, but the storms seemed to have decided to follow their own timetable.

With Jent to his right and Jostine to his left, Starbuck took a moment to review the the map of the area, which had been photogrammetrically mapped during the Colonials' first secton on the planet. It had been a good map so far, but like all maps produced by aerial photogrammetry, it wasn't exactly perfect and the areas field verified hadn't extended this far from town. Still, the map had helped the search line cross the small ravine cut through by a creek. Now the group was approaching the next major hurdle, a meander in the river. With the local terrain being relatively flat, the stream had changed courses a number of times over the yahrens. Here, it had cut to the southwest and then almost due south before turning back, forming a loop, a somewhat oblong protuberance. Unfortunately, it was on their side of the river, meaning that it had to be declared clear before the hunters moved further downstream.

Activating the comm unit, he quickly and quietly went back over plan alpha, the spread and pivot maneuver that they'd discussed earlier in the day that they would use to seal off both the river bend and the woods to the south. Boomer, Hefasia, Caden, Zhili, and Jostine would cut off the southeasterly direction, spreading out a bit to cover the width of the woods, while Mooks would watch the easterly side and Jenena, Jent, and Starbuck would do the pivot and clear the bend. Jostine, as his best target shooter, would have to cover downstream and be ready to cover the mouth of the bend if the creature slipped through their line. He also went back over their preplanned collapse maneuver to seal off the neck of the bend if the beast was discovered there. Based on recent reports, he was a bit worried that Jostine might be the weak link in the plans.

Calling a brief halt in the movement, he made a decision and moved closer to Jostine. When he was close enough, he pitched her his set of night vision goggles and made sure she knew how to use them. "Watch closely, Jostine. This bend looks like a jungle, so if that thing is in there, it could potentially slip right past us. Stay alert and if you see it coming your way, don't hesitate. Take it out. If we miss our chance and it escapes, there's no telling how many people might die as a result."

She nodded, aware of what would need to be done, while at the same time hating the fact that it might need to be. Still, she replied, "Yes, Sir, I understand. And good luck."

'***

They'd cleared about half the length of the bend, and Jent couldn't wait to be done. His clothes still a bit damp from the afternoon swim, he was searching the woods ahead of him with his night vision goggles, but seeing nothing so far. If it hadn't been for Jenena and Anaka seeing the thing, he probably wouldn't have believed there was anything nearby. Glancing down at his chrono, he saw that it was less than a centar to midnight local time, and he was out in some Lords-forsaken woods with a possible thunderstorm coming while looking for a fracking big beast that might be keeping him from seeing Keeltie. She and Betta, Caden's girl, had planned to try to get to the planet on furlon if the boys ever got leave. Both boys had sent messages, but neither had received a response before they'd volunteered for this mess. Jent hoped the girls were currently sitting in the bar on the south side having a nice drink while turning down guys right and left. If they could catch up with this thing soon, they'd put it out of their misery and still have some time with the girls tonight. With his rescue story...he grinned at the thought.

'***

There was a flash and thunder boomed in the distance. Jenena blinked her eyes a couple of times to get rid of the bright after-image. She quickly dialed her goggles back a couple of clicks so the next flash wouldn't affect her so badly. She hoped that wouldn't affect her goggles' range or detection ability too much.

She was holding down the right flank, staying a few metrons away from the riverbank, and generally just keeping Jent's bright form somewhere in the distance off to her left through the trees. She kept getting caught among thorny vines, and having to struggle to get untangled.

"This is One. Slow down for a moment, guys. Two's getting ahead of me. I'm all tangled up right in the middle of a bloody briar patch, with the blood being mine. Oh, felgercarb! Get out of one, into more..."

'***

Another flash of lightning in the distance lit up the tent city of New Hope for a micron. The storm was definitely getting closer. Moments later, the watcher left his hiding place, walked by the medical tent, and, with a discreet glance around revealing no observers, quickly slipped to the side, unfastened the flap, and entered. The first raindrops could be heard outside just a few moments later. Having made it inside unobserved, he stepped behind a storage crate and listened carefully to make sure no one was coming to check on any noise he might have accidentally made. Waiting a centon and hearing nothing, he started making his way forward.

'***

The creature was quite intelligent and was now feeling unsure about these bipeds. Taking the first had been so easy, and the second had seemed to be so until it had taken the unusual course of falling down and rolling into the river. It was the next one, though, that gave the beast concern. It had come crashing through the forest as if ready for a confrontation, which had surprised the beast, causing it to initially flee. While he rarely took that course, it was fortunate in this case since the third biped had possessed a lightning stick, which it had used to direct a bolt against him.

Now, he had been observing the bipeds' thrashing through the forest for the past couple of centars since they were lit up like bright stars. With stars and lightning and the bright concentration to the southeast, there was definitely more to these bipeds than the creature had originally thought. He had retreated slowly and quietly near the riverbank, biding his time for the right opportunity, but being in relatively rarely traveled territory had led him to being cut off in a loop in the river. He had stopped again, watching, when the bright light nearest the river seemed to be shining downward, as if the biped was bent forward. The beast silently crept a bit in that direction to get a better look.

Like many Betan creatures of the night, the creature's ancestors, over millions of yahrens, had developed the ability to see heat signatures in the darkness. The hunter used that ability now and saw that the biped was indeed focused on the vines that had entangled it. The creature could not smile in a way that was understandable to humans, but if he had, they would have seen a large grin, since thousands of generations of his ancestors had developed a three layer coat that allowed his kind to slip by such briers generally without them catching in its fur or skin. Thicker entanglements could be gone over or occasionally under. For now, this didn't look too bad, so moving silently, the beast began slipping into the edge of the patch, keeping trees between him and his prey to the extent possible. A little further and he would be in position...

'***

Jenena had one knee on the ground while slashing the vines with her knife and trying to disentangle them from her uniform. She was looking up as much as she could, searching for any sign of the creature, but was having to look down every few microns to cut, pull, and then try to throw the remnants away from her. Her rifle was propped against her upright knee and she had her blaster and holster free of vines and ready to draw if needed. Cutting another vine, she grasped it to pull it away when she exclaimed, "Frack! That hurt!" Looking down, she saw a long, ragged cut on her right palm. She quickly clasped her fist tight, applying pressure, trying to stop the bleeding, while looking forward once more, eyes searching. Lords, she was looking forward to getting out of this mess and back to town where she'd get a nice hot bath, plenty of bandages, and either a suitable guy to give her a full body massage and possibly more or as much ambrosa as she could possibly drink...or, better yet, both!

'***

Another flash of lightning lit the sky, but the beast wasn't concerned about that. Despite the fact that the wind was blowing from behind him, his powerful olfactory senses, developed over ages of evolution as another of the species' main specialties, were now picking up the scent of fresh blood. The smell was faint, but definitely there, indicating that the biped was wounded. Perhaps this would be easier than he expected.

'***

Jent was keeping a careful watch in front of himself and Jenena while she tried to escape the briar patch. He'd been caught in their snares several times himself, and had the scratches to prove it, but had been able to rip through without too much trouble and hadn't run into anything like the mess she'd encountered. He did another slow sweep with the goggles, looking for anything that might be out of the ordinary. Jent fought the urge to glance at his chrono again, knowing that the girls, if they'd arrived at all, would be off to bed before too long and that Caden and he would have to find them in the morning.

He was about to do a reverse sweep in the other direction when he saw another heat signature in his field of view. There had been a number of avions and small woodland creatures caught in the lenses, but this seemed different, as if somewhat obscured. He wasn't sure what it was, but it seemed a bit larger. "Two to One! There's a strange heat signature less than 20 metrons in front of you. I can't tell what it is!"

'***

While there were many things, including its size, strength, speed, intelligence, and hunting ability that made the creature what it was, the last major special evolutionary development in the creature's line was body temperature regulation. Annual migrations kept the beast continually in search of warm climates with plentiful game; such migrations in combination with the layered coat and various evolutionary quirks had led the beast's ancestors to develop a method of maintaining ambient temperature throughout most of their exterior, while keeping a constant warm blooded temperature for their core organs. This served to partially mask the creatures from potential prey using Betan night vision, allowing the beasts to more closely approach prior to attacking. Seeing the injured biped suddenly looking up and grabbing its lightning stick, the beast ran forward and launched itself through the air at her!

'***

Jenena heard a faint chuff chuff chuff sound like heavy breathing as Jent's voice ended. With her rifle out of position and despite the raging pain in her bleeding palm, she had her blaster pistol out and half way up when she saw a huge, feline-like creature sailing through the air in her direction! She was a relatively new Warrior, but she'd learned enough in her brief career to know that if one is under direct, short-range attack and can't fire for effect, fire for distraction, which was just what she did, squeezing off three shots as she dodged to the side. She'd been almost untangled when she did, but the remaining couple of vines ripped at her clothes and her skin as she fell sideways, directly into more of the brambles.

Two of the rounds had the desired effect, with one exploding in the ground almost directly under the beast and another hitting the base of a tree a short distance away. The creature demonstrated its agility by twisting its body in the air but it couldn't change its course in midair, so it landed right where she'd been. It swung its massive head in her direction and was twisting its body to go in for the kill as Jenena, clinging desperately to the bloody grip, tried to line up her blaster for another round.

The felinish beast, which stood over 1.3 metrons tall at its shoulder and weighed well over 450 kilos, was not quite 3.5 metrons in length, excluding its thick, highly flexible tail. It was tawny in color, with yellowish-brown eyes set above a jet black nose with wide, flaring nostrils in a broad head with large, backswept tufted ears. Its snout was large and extended, with its mouth opened wide, showing two projecting, slightly curved and extremely sharp upper canine teeth that were about 20 centimeters in length, with a smaller pair on the bottom, along with a mouthful of other wicked looking teeth. As it twisted to its right toward Jenena, it brought up its left front paw, a large pad with five visibly extended and razor-sharp claws, which it used to swat the blaster from her hand, slicing deep into the back of her hand with two of its claws as it did.

Jenena, trapped among the briers, screamed, both in pain and in rage, as her blaster sailed into the dark bushes and out of her sight and the beast opened its large maw, the long curved teeth descending toward her as lightning flashed and raindrops began pelting them both.

'***

As soon as Starbuck had heard Jent's call, he'd started moving that way, and on hearing the blaster fire, he called out as he started to sprint through the woods. "Everyone! Line collapse to the loop's neck, plan beta! Get in position, quickly! Jostine, go go go! Be ready in case it gets through. Take it out if you see it!" Starbuck raced toward Jenena, hoping he'd be in time.

'***

Jent had started to run toward her, too, as soon as he saw the heat signature begin its move. He brought his rifle forward but was running fast and wasn't in a position to aim, so he screamed loudly as he ran, trying to draw the creature's attention, while pointing the rifle in the general direction but high enough to avoid hitting Jenena and pulling the trigger.

'***

Cassie, having spent the evening worried sick about Starbuck and his group, had finally dozed off and was asleep on her bed when she was abruptly awakened. There was a person, very strong with a distinctly male smell, on top of her pinning her down. A large hand was clamped firmly over her mouth. As her eyes grew wide, a male voice whispered in her ear, "If you scream or even say anything, you die."

'***


	18. Chapter 17: Final Frames

**Chapter 17: Final Frames**

 _Having spent its entire life at the top of the food chain with no natural predators, the beast had spent the whole afternoon and evening slowly coming upon the realization that something had changed. During the early afternoon, it was a typical hunt, with the beast intending to take down a creature to satisfy its belly before the next hunger pangs began. Like the ever-so-occasional hunt, though, that didn't turn out quite as planned. Then came the discovery that, with their lightning sticks, the bipeds had some ability like relatively few other creatures to attempt to defend themselves. Previously, this uncommon ability was limited almost exclusively to small groups of northern bears, large packs of lupi, or great herds of shaggy horned bovinoids. As evening turned to night, the beast realized that the bipeds were far more than any of those types of creatures; they were not just defenders, but were in fact active predators themselves! He had seen several over the course of the afternoon and evening, making the hunter realize that just as he had done seemingly countless times before, the bipeds were now the pursuers, slowly stalking their prey. Unlike every previous hunt in the creature's life, though, he himself was now the pursued, the hunted!_

 _This realization left the creature in the position similar to hunted creatures and pursued armies from time immemorial: he had three basic possibilities to escape. He could use speed to flee, use stealth to slip past them unseen, or else use ferocity to attack and overcome them. Not being a fan of deep water or swimming, he was cut off by the river bend and was finding his pursuers to be seemingly alert, so now he was acting accordingly, choosing to deal with a seemingly slower pursuer and make his escape. He had worked his way into position, made the initial run, and was finding it easy so far..._

Just as the giant feline's tusks were about to clamp down on its prey, the beast saw a bright flash and felt a sharp pain along its side as one of Jent's shots glanced along its shoulder, burning through its thick coat and leaving a sear mark scorched into its outer hide. With the raindrops falling faster, the creature jumped to its left as a result, and seeing that its current opponent was down and seemingly posed no immediate threat (other than screaming louder than almost any avion it had ever encountered!), it had a choice. It could attempt to flee with the new attacker right behind it, or deal with the new threat, too. The decision was seemingly automatic, with the beast hastily bounding toward the new attacker that was just a short distance into the briar patch. This attacker was lit like a bright star as well and was apparently attempting to the best of its ability to match the volume of the first, though it seemed to be somewhat less shrill. The beast jumping forward and over the brambles bounded first to the left, then landing, pressing down the bushes as it did, and then reversed to the right and launched again, cutting the distance between itself and its attacker with each leap. Then, it repeated the process again, closing the gap...

'***

With plan beta in effect by Starbuck's order, Jostine was running through the woods as fast as she could toward the other side of the neck of the loop as the others in the main group ran to help cut off parts of the line that were closer to them. She heard Jenena moan out, "Number One...I'm hurt, bad. Beast is a...giant feline-type...huge, sharp. Get it."

"Hold on, Jenena! We're coming!" came the call from a couple of other trainees running toward their positions in what would be the new line.

'***

Starbuck could see a light ahead and what had to be Jent's back in silhouette as the young trainee fired ahead. Starbuck was still forty or fifty metrons away and through the trees; he was unable to see the beast so he continued forward as quickly as he could, crossing some rough terrain. "Starbuck here, keep firing Jent! I'll be there in a centon. Everyone else get in position and then move forward. We have to get this thing, now!"

'***

 _"I'm sorry to have to do this, but it's the only way," whispered the man pinning Cassie beneath him. "Rutilius was the scum of Colonies, always pushing all of us to work, work, work, while he figured out ways to get out of it. Hades, he got himself transferred out of our work crew to fix agro-tracs and equipment, even though he told me he didn't know pogees about most of what he was seeing. And do you know why he was here when he died? He was coming to see you! He said he recognized you from somewhere and he was completely convinced that you'd go on what he called 'a very special date' with him, whether you and your Warrior friend wanted it or not. He was always so pushy like that with us, too, just wouldn't take no for an answer. He said it was the mark of a good sales rep. If you gave him the time, he could sell anyone anything, whether they needed it or not."_

'***

With the rain pouring down and flashes of lightning lighting the sky, Jent was trying to track the erratically moving beast and firing as quickly as possible as he continued forward toward Jenena's fallen form, but combined with the brambles and the beast's movement, he just couldn't seem to get a bead on it. A micron later, that didn't matter as the beast closed on him. Jent, continuing to scream to try to distract it as well as to possibly give himself a bit of extra courage, lunged forward with his bent left leg forward and right leg braced back, shoving his Mark 4 forward as the beast descended and pulling the trigger with the muzzle almost against its chest. The creature's momentum carried it forward, crashing first into his left arm, knocking the rifle away, and then crumpling Jent under it in a twist as it tumbled forward. It quickly rolled over to upright itself, and then jumped up, twisting back toward its new opponent.

Jent, lying on some of the bushes in which he'd become entangled, struggled desperately to pull his blaster from his holster as the beast came toward him. The beast's massive face was lit up by his shoulder-mounted light rig that pointed upward at an odd angle to also light falling raindrops and the surrounding treetops. Having taken a blow to the head as well as most of his body from the giant beast, Jent was blinking hard from the pain and the water in his eyes. He was hurting, feeling that his right leg must be badly broken, along with an injured left wrist and arm, and a number of ribs either bruised or broken. His breathing was rapid and shallow, with waves of pain sweeping over him, but he was able to focus enough that his eyes widened as the creature gave him a silent snarl, making only a quiet, throaty hiss, baring all of its teeth in addition to its always projecting sabers.

'***

Jostine continued running hard, thinking on what she'd just heard. Back in Kenkillen before the Cylon attack, she'd had little Pebbles, a gray and white female felix, the small house-version of the large wild felines, and had often fed a few homeless felices who visited her back steps. Based on her experience, she knew that even her little felix was never completely domesticated, always keeping a tiny bit of her wild cousins' independence, but living with humans and tolerating some of their strange nuances in return for food, shelter, and a degree of safety. Jos loved felines as a result and hated that this one, whether a true feline or not, would hurt her friend and her people.

Jenena called again, "Goggles don't work...on heat. Signature seems...camouflaged. Doesn't show up...well. Care..."

"Jenena!" cried Hefasia. "Hang on, girlfriend! We're coming!"

Breathing hard, Jos saw the river bend where the loop started, about twenty or thirty metrons dead ahead, so she slowed and swung to her left. Searching through the googles, she could see the immediate area with the light intensification feature, but the heat detection part reduced the range. Starbuck realized this, too, and it was his voice over the comm unit telling everyone to turn the heat sensing part off to increase the light intensification range. Unfortunately, Jostine had missed that part of the instructions earlier in the evening since she didn't have a set at the time, so she reached to the side of the goggles, found the control pad, and watched on the built-in control menu as she found heat vision. She didn't know how to turn it completely off, but she found the intensity control and slid it all the way to the left, effectively minimizing its action. When she did, she found that she'd picked up an extra fifteen or so metrons in light intensification visual range. The way she figured it, every metron was important.

Seeing a largish tree, she stepped up to it and brought her rifle up, bracing her back against the side. Looking through the sights, she started swinging an arc, searching for any sign of the beast.

'***

 _"When I got hurt, it was actually his bloody fault, but Rutilius blamed me and everyone else but himself. And then you told me to be careful and not to work for a couple of cycles, but he made me get back to it full speed ahead the very next morning! If it hadn't been for those staples you put in, I'd probably have bled to death. It was bad enough as it was and it still hurts sometimes, particularly if I'm picking up anything heavy or touch it the wrong way."_

 _'***_

The beast was in more pain than it had ever experienced, but it had twisted its body as it descended on the now almost prone biped, causing part of the Mark 4's plasma blast to be deflected away. Twice in a matter of centons, the bipeds had caused it pain, but now, the creature could tell that this one would cause him no more trouble but the rapidly approaching starlight might. He silently snarled at Jent in warning and then swung around and bounded away. He would escape now and would seriously consider leaving the bipeds off his future menu.

'***

 _"I was drunk and not thinking too clearly. I don't know why I went with him, I just did. Then, we were there and I just wanted to get some meds for the pain so I started searching that locker, rather than thinking that I could have just stopped in and asked you for them. I couldn't find any medication in that thing at all. Since I'd been drinking so heavily that night before running into Rutilius, I must have been rattling things around too much. Rutilius thought I was going to make too much noise and attract attention; he tried to stop me so he could go find you. He said it would be a date, but I knew what he had in mind, and I'm pretty sure you wouldn't have liked it. When he grabbed my arm and tried to spin me around, he put his hand right on the cut spot on my arm. Yeah, it had healed, but it still hurt like Hades since I've strained it so many times. When I turned, I had a cutter in my hand that I'd picked up to open any boxes and when I hit him in his stomach, it just slid right in. He looked down and saw the bloody knife in my hand before he even felt it, I think. He started cursing at me, trying to whisper, still thinking he was going to come back and take you, but he was getting louder, so I had to do something to keep him quiet before he woke up half of this stupid town. I just kept sticking him until he finally shut up."_

 _'***_

As he ran, Starbuck was giving an update to everyone in the new line, letting them know that the beast was on its way. When he reached Jent, he said, "Are you okay, Jent? Can you move?"

Jent was pretty disoriented but shook his head as he gripped the badly injured leg with his good hand, "No, Sir...but I'll be okay...while you check on Jenena. Go, Sir!"

Starbuck briefly put his hand on Jent's shoulder. "Great job, Jent. I'll be back shortly. Just hold on, and we'll get you fixed up." A micron later, Starbuck was following the creature's lead, taking advantage of Beta's somewhat lighter than fleet-standard gravity and was taking short leaps toward the young ensign to get through the briar patch by coming down on top of the bushes rather than trying to go through them. It was fairly exhausting but reasonably efficient, allowing him to reach Jenena without becoming entangled. He could tell she was in shock, so, since she was already lying down, he quickly sprayed some Skin Seal on the cuts to anesthetize them and stop the blood flow, and then bound her hand tightly while having Partha call in the medivac shuttle. Next, he gave her a pain killer and stuck the ampule on her collar so the doctor would see that she'd had it.

"Be back with you in just a centon, Jent. Just hang on, buddy!" called Starbuck as he finished with Jenena. Touching her cheek, he said, "Stay put, brave Ensign, and you'll be fine. I'm going back to help Jent and will be back to get you in a couple of centons. Don't try to move."

Quickly updating the orders to the rest of his team, he started making his way back toward the wounded trainee, using the same process, but he was finding it a bit slower now. However, at the same time as Starbuck was starting to treat Jenena's hand, Jent, feeling quite woozy and in a great deal of pain, was struggling to pick up his hand to rub his head...trying to fight off...he really wasn't sure what. He needed to wipe his face since something was on it and Keeltie wouldn't want him to be dirty. He'd get to see her soon, after all. As his hand finally reached his eyes, he didn't even notice the blood on it since it was being washed away by the falling rain hitting his face, nor did he know of the blood pooling below the razor-like clawmarks near the compound break in his badly wounded leg.

"Jent! Talk to me, buddy! Trainee Jent! Stay alert!" shouted Starbuck when Jent failed to respond.

When Starbuck finally made it back a couple of centons later, Jent's hand had flopped back and his unseeing eyes were staring lifelessly into the glowing treetops as the rain fell around them.

'***

 _Cassiopeia was listening to every word, trying to figure out how to escape, but the man was large and strong, and he had her pinned down completely, with a hand over her mouth. "It made a mess and I cleaned it up as well as I could. Now, I've got a problem. If the blackshirts don't find the murderer soon, they're going to keep looking until they do. Therefore, since I saved you then, I need to have you return the favor now."_

 _'***_

Jostine sensed the movement through the trees, possibly from a flash of lightning, before she really saw it so she adjusted her plasma rifle a few degrees to the left. Aligning the sights, she waited another micron and as the horribly beautiful feline-like creature appeared in her goggles, she set it in her sights and placed her finger on the trigger.

In that instant on seeing the beast, she remembered Pebbles, the Cylon attack on Kenkillen, and the bodies that Pops had tried, unsuccessfully, to keep her from seeing as they evacuated. Her mom and brothers, her felix, her friends, her town, and her planets were all gone now because some evil creatures felt they had the right to do as they chose, to be ruthless killers. "Well," thought Jostine, "if you leave me and mine alone, we can get along just fine, but there are fracking consequences if you try to pull that felgercarb on my watch. I'm a Colonial Warrior you evil bastard and I won't stand by while you hurt my friends." With the beast rushing forward but tracked and framed solidly in her sights, she pulled the trigger.

'***

 _Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a piece of paper that he'd printed in New Hope's small library tent earlier that afternoon. He'd already folded it so only a small part at the bottom was visible. "Now, if you'll be good and quiet and just sign this paper, I'll let you go and be out of your hair and your tent and we can all move forward, but I swear, if you make a sound, I'll have to kill you. Understand?"_

Cassie nodded slightly and the man, looking at her closely, eased off a bit, allowing her to free her right hand and then her mouth. "Good. Now, stay quiet. Just sign this, and I'll go."

"Pen?" she whispered when she took the paper in hand. The man drew one from his pocket and hesitated, looking at her, and then handed it over. She held up the folded paper in the darkness, "Uh _,_ light?" but the man was ready, holding up a small penlight, which he focused on the page. Cassie saw only "I'm so sorry," on the exposed section. She nodded again and whispered, "I'll sign, I'll sign." She repositioned herself to write on the small table, and when she was done, she handed it back to the man. "Here you go."

He felt relief flood over him, it was almost over. Just one more regrettable but necessary step, but first, he glanced at the paper in his hand, moving the light as he did. When the page was lit, his eyes widened when he saw it was not Cassiopeia's signature but rather Persellus, his own name, written on the paper! He turned toward her saying, "You-" but was interrupted as Cassie drove the pen's point as hard as she could almost dead center into the laborer's old wound. He screamed, clutching at his arm, as Cassie jumped up and ran from the room, shouting for help. Pulling the pen from his arm and gripping the wound as hard as he could to stop the bleeding, Persellus took off after her.

Cassie started running down the connector tent toward the main room of the Life Station but only got a few metrons. As she turned the corner from the residential wing into the treatment wing, she ran into a large black figure. She was about to scream again when she realized it was Lieutenant Reese, who spun her around almost like a practiced dance move right into Krixus's arms, releasing her just in time to bring up his fist and hit Persellus as he too tried to turn the corner. A rapid follow-up swing with the other fist made the big laborer stumble backward. Persellus was in the process of drawing his knife when Reese, drawing his blaster pistol, said, "I really wouldn't do that if I was you. Now, drop the knife and kick it away from you. Now, drop to your knees with your hands on your head, fingers laced together." As he applied the cuffs, Reese continued, "Persellus, under Colonial Law, you are under arrest for the murder of Mech Tech Rutilius, and, it looks like, we'll probably throw in a number of charges for roughing up Med Tech Cassiopeia, too."

As Krixus, redfaced, helped Cassie get her balance, she asked, "How did you know it was him? And how did you know he was here?"

Having secured the prisoner and seeing that the blood flow from Persellus's arm wasn't too bad, Reese looked up to answer with a somewhat strange look. "Our very skilled investigative technician here found his fingerprint on a watertank today where we thought the murderer might have washed out the blood. He matched it to a stray print from the murder scene, and then one of my guys found the connection between Rutilius and him. We searched his tent earlier tonight, found some traces of blood in the seams of some wet boots that he tried to wash out in the watertank along with his clothes, and Krixus just got a DNA match from that."

Reese's face showed a bit of embarrassment as he continued, "As for knowing he was here, I'd love to tell you we'd been tracking him for several centars, but the truth is, we didn't have a clue where he was. Krixus and I were coming over so I could apologize for giving you such a hard time and to let you know that you were off the hook. We were out front about to ring the night bell not dreaming that he would come after you until we heard you calling for help!"

Cassie was about to respond when Maggie, one of the other med techs, ran out into the corridor saying, "Cassiopeia, we've just gotten a call from the medivac shuttle. They're coming in from some hunt. Doctor Ricks is on board and they need us to have the operating room ready for immediate use for multiple wounded!"

As she ran toward that tent in the connected Life Station complex to prepare for their arrival, her first thought was, "Lords, please don't let it be Starbuck!"

'***


	19. Chapter 18: Memorable Moments

**Chapter 18: Memorable Moments**

The two Vipers landed in Beta Bay without incident. As his canopy opened, Lieutenant Lazant rose from his seat and stretched; it felt great to be back on the Galactica after a long and fortunately mostly uneventful patrol. The little run-in with Starbuck and his young cadet wingmate had been the only excitement on the entire trip in which he and Ensign Krachus had visited all of the outer buoys in the assigned quadrants scanning for any unexpected traffic entering the system. All of the buoys visited appeared to be functioning normally.

"Lieutenant Lazant," called his wingmate from the deck next to him as he was exiting the Viper, "thank you for all of your advice on our patrol, Sir. It was very informative. What do we do now, check in?"

"Always glad to share knowledge, Krachus. Hopefully you will take that knowledge, and will remember and be able to apply it in the future when you need it. Too often I find that I'm wasting my breath with good information going in one ear and right out the other side. Don't let that be the case here, Ensign."

The ensign looked a little surprised at Lazant's statement, but after considering it for a moment, he really wasn't surprised. Before he could say anything, though, Lazant continued, "As for what's next, yes, we check in with the squadron X.O., file our report, get our next assignment, and then, hopefully, hit the bed and get some sleep."

"Are you going to call the Lieutenant for a date, Sir?"

Lazant glared at him for a moment. "Ensign, I haven't filed my report yet. If you wish to keep that hard-earned rank, you might not want to mention that again." Krachus's face paled at the comment, but Lazant let the issue drop and they visited Red Squadron's office. Krachus was done quickly and was off to bed, while Lazant's report was more detailed and took a little longer.

When he was finished, he hit his comm unit. When he received a response, he said, "Hello, dear Athena, Lazant here."

"Lazant, welcome back. That was a long patrol."

"Quite true, so I'm going to stretch and then head to bed. Before that, though-would you like to have dinner with me tonight?"

Lazant noted a brief pause on the other end of the unit before Athena quietly answered, "Yes, that would be nice. See you then. Sleep well."

'***

 _On Timorala Beta:_

Unlike the Warrior trainees piled against each other lying on the floor in front of him, Starbuck was quite used to sleeping sitting up, in his Viper on long-range patrols or wherever else the occasion arose, so he was sitting in one of the chairs along the tent wall in the main room of the Life Station. This time, though, sleep would not come to the Warrior, for whenever he closed his eyes, Jent's blank stare glared back at him, dominating his view, and the horrible feeling in the pit of his stomach would sweep over him yet again. It had been like that ever since Starbuck accompanied the seriously wounded Jenena and Jent's body back to New Hope aboard the medivac shuttle. Boomer had brought Cadet Zhili and the rest of the trainees back with Partha in the land-ram, and they'd rushed to the Life Station, arriving a couple of centars before. Exhaustion had soon overtaken them.

Starbuck had seen a great deal of death and destruction, from Umbra to Cimtar to countless other stops along the way, but he'd learned to generally deal with it coldly, professionally, keeping it at a distance, much like the countless Warriors lost to Cylon laserfire in innumerable encounters in space. This was different, though, with Starbuck having made a triage decision to help one wounded Warrior over another, though in truth, he realized that he'd really had no idea of the severity of Jent's wounds. Jent had even urged him to go on to help Jenena before him, but it was likely that no one would ever know if he even had a good idea of the actual extent of his injuries or if he did and was still intent on saving her first, even if it meant sacrificing himself.

Jent was a great kid and would have been a great Colonial Warrior, Starbuck thought, but then stopped himself. No, Jent WAS a great Colonial Warrior! He'd done what needed to be done, even sacrificing himself so the mission would be completed successfully. And it had been.

Jenena had done her part, too, providing vital information on their opponent even after being badly wounded. Without her warning, there was a good chance that the creature would have escaped and possibly wounded or even killed more of his team.

His team. Starbuck looked at the young Colonial Warrior trainees asleep on the hard floor of the Life Station, knowing they would have all still been up waiting for word just like him if he hadn't ordered them to get some rest. Young Jostine, about whom he'd been so worried, had stood her ground unflinchingly as the beast raced toward her, firing off five rounds in the pouring rain (and hitting it three times) before bringing the giant feline down just a few metrons in front of her. He'd been worried that she would buckle or hesitate to pull the trigger when the time came, but she had proved herself, though she had given full credit to the tree against which she'd braced herself for helping hold her up when she, too, was afraid she'd collapse from fear.

Then there was Caden, who'd rushed in, scooped up Jenena, and carried her to a clearing where the shuttle could evacuate her. He'd blazed his way through the briar patch with his blaster, and then slogged through the last few metrons as he closed on Jenena, being careful not to injure her as he went in either direction. His uniform had been shredded and he was covered by scratches from the brambles, but he'd not complained a bit. Like his best friend Jent, he'd initially refused treatment until Starbuck finally had to order it.

And Hefasia, who'd been such encouragement to the badly wounded Jenena as they dealt with the crisis and then tried to get back to her. She'd helped keep the young ensign focused and as positive as possible throughout the ordeal.

Last but not least was Trainee Mooks, the oldest, and together with Jostine, most improbable of the group, who used his great intelligence and advanced engineering degree to rig up a system to allow the beast to be seen. Of course, it hadn't worked in this case due to the creature's apparent heat camouflaging ability, but it might work in other cases in the future, so Starbuck planned to have him complete the formal design so other land-rams might be equipped with the technology.

Starbuck yawned as he stretched, blinking his eyes momentarily, only to see Doctor Ricks emerging from the operating room as he regained focus. He rose and approached the doctor as Hefasia, who'd evidently been awake, too, woke the others. They were soon gathered around behind him. The doctor appeared to hesitate about giving the report in front of the entire group, but Starbuck told him that these people were Jenena's family.

"Lieutenant, 'family'," Ricks said, glancing at the trainees, "the damage to Ensign Jenena's hand was quite severe, being much deeper than we originally thought. Fortunately, the cuts were also almost razor-like so they were very clean, with relatively little shredding of tissues. It was very complicated but with help from Doctor Salik via video link and our quite dexterous resident medical student Cassiopeia, we were able to save her hand and rebuild it, though it may require another operation or two to restore full utility. Either way, she'll require extensive physical therapy, probably taking some sectars, to regain full dexterity. She'd lost a great deal of blood, so we gave her a transfusion involving several units. Without the immediate field treatment she received, the result probably wouldn't have been nearly as good. She's resting peacefully right now, and we want it to stay that way. She'll probably be awake and able to have limited visitation tonight."

With excitement on the chance of visitation in the air, Caden asked, "Doctor Ricks, will she be able to attend Jent's memorial?"

The doctor paused, considering. "Ahem, if it's tomorrow...maybe. She's very weak and really needs to stay in bed and build her strength for a few cycles, but a centar or so in chair, assuming she's feeling well and is up for it. We'll reevaluate in the morning and see."

As sad as they were about the need for it, they seemed to understand Ricks' response. Then Hefasia spoke up, "Doctor, one other thing. Will she be able to fly again? Being a Colonial Warrior is everything to her now."

Giving Starbuck a rather perturbed look when he again nodded, Ricks answered, "I won't lie to you, she will have to work very hard at it to regain full dexterity, which I believe will be required to get back in the cockpit, but if she has the support I believe I see from her 'family' members here, she should be able to do it if she chooses."

Receiving a round of thanks from the Warrior Trainees, the doctor waved it off and looked at Starbuck with a quick nod. The Warrior held up a hand to stop the young Warriors, and went back with the doctor. "Lieutenant Starbuck, I wanted to speak with you privately about the late, young Jent. He was deceased from blood loss long before we arrived, so I didn't do anything with him other than a brief confirmation until after we were done with Ensign Jenena's surgery. I looked in on him then and did a short visual autopsy, if you will. I saw your concern for both of them on the shuttle as we brought them out, and I know you're very upset despite trying not to look that way. Therefore, I have a question for you."

Starbuck looked at him, waiting, and Doctor Ricks continued, "Lieutenant, did you ever attend medical school?"

"No, of course not, Doc, but I have had all of the first aid training offered to Warriors, and am fully certified in all of it."

"Of course. It's a multi-part question. Did you have an operating room handy or a significant blood supply when Trainee Jent was wounded?"

Starbuck looked a bit confused that the doctor would be asking such silly questions. "Uh, Doc, I think you know we were in the middle of the dark woods in pouring rain with a fracking big killer feline on the loose with nothing anything like an operating room anywhere nearby and the nearest available blood supply being here."

The doctor looked at him and then, to Starbuck's surprise, took his hand in his own, patting it gently. "Lieutenant, of course I know those answers, but I wanted to make sure you did, too. Because with the extent of the damage that young man suffered, that's what it would have likely taken anyone, even me, to save him. You told me on the shuttle you didn't know that his wounds were so severe, but neither did I or anyone else until we saw what happened and I looked up close. Lieutenant, what I'm saying is, if you're blaming yourself like I think you are, you're wasting your time. Even if you'd known and put on a constriction band, he would have probably still died, and taking the time needed to do that, you'd have probably lost Ensign Jenena, too, or at least ended up with the situation where she'd have been permanently disabled. As it was, young Jent and you gave her a fighting chance." He patted Starbuck's hand again, more firmly, and then released it. "Now, if you'll excuse me, Lieutenant, I'm going to clean up." He took a couple of steps and turned back, saying, "Oh, Lieutenant, I understand that you have some type of relationship with Cassiopeia. I normally serve on the Tauran Moon freighter so I'd never met her until today, but I must say, I suspect you must be one very lucky young man. She did a remarkable job assisting in there." The doctor gave him a brief smile as he added, "Oh, and she should be out shortly."

Starbuck watched him go while thinking about what he'd said. He stepped back into the main room of the Life Station a moment later to see Caden embracing a sobbing young woman and both of them with their arms around another young woman sobbing hysterically. He'd never met either of the young ladies, but he knew who they must be. It was one of the hardest parts of the job, but he steeled himself and went over to meet them, planning to say a few words and try to offer a bit of comfort.

'***

A short time later aboard the Galactica, Apollo was meeting with Colonel Tigh, Lieutenant Sheba, and Blue Squadron's XO, Lieutenant Varcan. "I've just received an update from Starbuck on Beta. Ensign Jenena's out of action for quite a while, so I'm planning to sign off on what we discussed. Colonel, if you have any objections, please state them now. It's only for another couple of sectars, but he knows these trainees and can do a good job with them. They really don't need more fingers in the pot or any more mixed signals."

Tigh nodded and said, "Apollo, you know the situation and people involved better than I do. If you're comfortable with it, I'll make sure no one on the Bridge red flags it."

"Thanks, Colonel. I'll issue the order right after we finish here. Next, Starbuck is setting up Trainee Jent's memorial service for tomorrow morning on the planet. Jent had named Trainee Caden and his girlfriend Keeltie as his next of kin, so they've decided to do it there and spread his ashes. Starbuck's already there and Jolly was planning to head back down tomorrow afternoon to lead the next training exercise, so he'll leave early so they can represent the squadron, with the other trainees as the honor guard." Turning to Sheba, he said, "Now, the other issue...Sheba, have you considered what we discussed?"

Sheba had spent most of her waking centars over the last cycle thinking about little else, and she was more than a little nervous about it. Subconsciously she was biting her lower lip slightly, but when she had the floor, she felt that weight lift from her shoulders.

"Yes. Colonel, the Fleet has suffered significant losses in Warriors and Vipers since Cimtar. It operated with two partially staffed squadrons, Blue and Red, pieced together from the survivors at Cimtar until female Warriors were trained and brought online following the stop in the Otarsis Quadrant and the illness among the male Warriors. The transfer of Silver Spar Squadron from the Pegasus helped fill more of the gap at Gamoray when my father-"

She paused for a moment, knowing that many thought the Battlestar Pegasus had been destroyed with the two Cylon Base Stars, but she still believed that he had found a way to slip away again. "-was lost."

She reached into the folder on the table before her and pulled out a paper. "Millennia ago, while our ancestors went through the dark times, losing most of their technology and space travel for many yahrens, it became common for armored warriors riding heavily armored equines and carrying a variety of melee weapons to protect the common people from enemies and beasts alike on most of the Colonies, much like Colonial Warriors do today. The various warriors wore different styles of armor and used different types of weapons on different planets, but the thing that they had in common on most of the Colonies was a symbol for what they called knighthood, taken from children's stories shared by children on all the worlds."

She flipped the paper over and showed it to Apollo and Tigh. "With new, Fleet-produced Vipers scheduled to start coming on line within the next yahren, we have the opportunity to start building our forces, to bring the Galactica back to full operational capability. Therefore, I accept the assignment to build the new squadron, and I propose that, like those brave warriors of old, my new squadron be based on and named after that old symbol, the Gold Spur."

'***

It was early the following morning on the planet, and a rather sizeable group was gathering in the small field next to the Life Station. Word had gotten out around New Hope of the events of the past two nights, so many were coming to pay their respects to the fallen young Warrior.

Hefasia was gently pushing Ensign Jenena in a wheeled chair, with Jostine and Mooks walking on each side of Jenena in case she needed help. As the crowd parted to let them through, their eyes widened in surprise when they first saw two Council Members standing in the group, and then really widened when they saw Commander Adama standing in front to run the memorial. Jenena started to cry, joining Keeltie and Betta, standing on each side of Caden, so when the chair stopped rolling next to them, Hefasia put her hands on her shoulders and Jostine took her uninjured left hand as both young trainees joined her in tears. Mooks, standing on the opposite side, tried his best to maintain a stern contenance, pretending that the streaks on his cheeks weren't really there.

Starbuck, standing next to Cassiopeia and Jolly, looked at the young trainees in their dress uniforms and was glad to see that Jenena was present. Seeing Cassie intently looking at the wounded ensign and thinking on his own career, he started to wonder if she or Doctor Ricks had actually given permission for the young officer to attend. As fun-natured as Jent was, Starbuck suppressed a smile at the thought that Jent would probably have preferred that his fellow Trainees sneak her out anyway, as long as she was up for it.

The Commander read some passages, spoke on bravery and self-sacrifice as exhibited by Trainee Jent, and led a prayer. Trainee Caden then gave a brief eulogy, filling in on the Commander's words by telling of Jent's bravery and selflessness at his end, which left many in tears, and then saying that there was much more to the young Warrior's life. He spoke of their childhood friendship on Caprica and how they ended up in the Fleet together as brothers and then Warriors. He offered several short stories from Jent's life that succeeded in bringing some laughter among the tears.

As Caden was nearing the end of his remarks, Starbuck saw another young Warrior step through the crowd and stop on Jostine's left. As he was about to look back at Caden, he saw Ensign Walrach, Alpha Three Squad's former and newly restored training officer, lightly slip his hand into a very surprised Jostine's fingers. Her bright, wide eyes and her brief lean into him in combination with her actions in the field led him to believe that her period of self-doubt was finally over.

'***

That evening, Starbuck and Cassie had just finished their meal together while they shared a glass of crystal ambrosa. There was a slight curl of smoke from his fumarello that he'd lit after she'd smiled and given him a little nod.

The memorial had ended well with many condolences to Keeltie, Caden, and their friends. After Jenena had been safely returned to her room and her rest in the Life Station, Cassie had lightly scolded her escorts for their little jailbreak. She ended on a bright note when she'd smiled at them and said that she was sure both Jent and Jenena appreciated their actions. A short time later, Starbuck and Jolly led Ensign Walrach, the trainees, and the young ladies to a small bluff overlooking the river where Jent's ashes were scattered after a prayer and a few more words of comfort.

As the group made their way back to town, Walrach informed the trainees that Jenena would be evacuated to the Galactica later that day and that due to her wounds, Captain Apollo had put him back in charge of Alpha Three Squad for the duration of their training, with the understanding that he would only fraternize with a certain trainee while off duty. That brought laughs all around, including Jostine, who said, "Uh, I'm on furlon right now!" before giving him a big hug and kiss. They were all quite happy when Walrach added, "Speaking of furlons, Captain Apollo has extended your furlon by one planetary day, since you spent most of the first half of your original furlon on active duty anyway." With that happy thought, the group had then headed to lunch where Jent, Colonial Warrior, was roundly toasted.

Cassiopeia, wearing a red evening dress, leaned close across the table and said, "Starbuck, Reese stopped by the Life Station this afternoon. He said that Persellus was taken to the Prison Barge to await his trial and sentencing."

Starbuck, looking in her lovely eyes, said, "I'd rather not think about that bastard this evening."

"Well, he's out of our lives now," she replied.

"Oh, I meant Reese."

Cassie laughed as she punched his forearm lightly. "Oh! So cruel!"

Starbuck shook his head, "No, seriously, as long as Persellus is on the Prison Barge and far from you, never to be able to get close to you again, I've already put him out of my mind."

"I'm okay with that. He may actually have saved me from Rutilius like he claimed, but coming back to kill me so it would look like I was committing suicide from the guilt for killing the guy cancelled out any goodwill he might have had coming." She patted his hand above the table as she rubbed the inside of her foot against his leg under the cloth covered table.

Starbuck put down the fumarello and took both of her hands with both of his. "Cassie, I, ah...I've been doing a lot of thinking over the past couple of cycles."

"I know, there's been so much happening."

Starbuck was obviously a bit flustered, so he hurried on. "Yeah, it's made me realize a lot of things, and has caused me to have some serious thoughts on some other things I realized a long time ago. One of those is that I love you and want to spend the rest of my life with you. Cassiopeia, will you take the seal with me?"

Cassie looked briefly at the ring that had appeared in his hand and then looked at him with a blank face, seeing the concern and anticipation building on his own face. When she couldn't hold it any more, she smiled broadly and replied, "Starbuck! Yes, dear, of course!"

'***

 ** _Author's Note:_** **** _This episode is complete except for the epilogue. As you may have guessed, some elements of the story will be concluded in the upcoming episode._


	20. Epilogue: Expectant Edicts

**Epilogue: Expectant Edicts**

 _Nine cycles later:_

Following the senior staff meeting, Adama breathed a sigh of relief mixed with frustration as he prepared to dictate into his log. The Timorala resupply effort was rapidly nearing its originally planned end and quite successfully at that; with careful management and partial replenishment from fleetside sources, the fleet would be able to go for almost two yahrens before significant shortages became likely. However, confirmation of the discovery of significant deposits of duridium on Timorala Kappa had him considering a short extension in their stay. The ore, located on the small, outermost planet in the system, was an essential ingredient in the manufacture of durasteel for new Vipers. Unfortunately, since its discovery had been made known, some members of the Council of Twelve were using it as an excuse for a much longer extension in the system and possible exploration of the surrounding systems, as well.

After logging the basics, Adama turned to what was bothering him. Holding his mic, he watched the words appear on his screen as he spoke:

 _"My greatest concern is that we have been here for almost three sectars, during which time our Cylon pursuers have been free to continue their chase. We have no way of knowing how close they are behind us, or if, like some members of the Council believe, they've given us up for lost. I pray the latter is the case, but sincerely doubt it. Now, we're faced with possibly splitting the Fleet once more, dispatching ships to the 10th planet to resume mining operations for a desperately needed material while the bulk of the fleet remains here to complete the harvest and resupply effort._

 _"Unfortunately, the Foundry Ship is one of the slowest ships in the Fleet and arrival of the Cylons could mean its loss and the loss of all aboard, along with any other ships that might stay to aid it. When we arrived and sent it to the Asteroid Belt, I had similar concerns but felt the risk was worth the reward since it was unlikely that the Cylons would come upon us immediately. Now, with the probability of their arrival increasing with each passing secton, is it worth the risk? Is the potential reward great enough to justify the potential loss?_

 _"A younger officer recently argued quite eloquently, and quite forcefully, that we must be prepared for such losses, that we must be prepared to sacrifice some to prevent the loss of all. His statement is nothing new to me; as distasteful as it is, I have faced this fact every cycle since the Cylons destroyed our Colonies, but I have also done everything in my power to prevent it from occurring. Now, I am potentially faced with being forced to give the order that could lead to the very thing I have feared. I earnestly pray that the Lords will protect us, and that I am wrong about my concerns of the Cylons closing in on us; however, my instincts and history lead me to believe that it is only a matter of time..."_

Closing the log, Adama looked through the information he had recently received regarding the status of the fleet's Viper force and the plan for new, fleet-built fighters. Forgemaster Karkarian had reported that recently completed testing showed that the new fleet-produced parts were the equal to those previously produced in the Colonies. While there were still a number of obstacles left to be overcome before new, fleet-produced Vipers would be reality, the number of those obstacles remaining was decreasing with each passing cycle. Having an adequate supply of an essential alloy ingredient would be another obstacle overcome.

Returning to the Bridge, he approached his first officer. "Tigh, we are running out of time. Please alert the Council of Twelve and contact the respective captains that Rashemon Industries Foundry Ship 4, with The Golden Shores, the Colonial Movers freighter, and the Admiral Hannabar providing shuttle support for ore transport, will be departing for Timorala Kappa in eight centars. They will commence mining of the duridium found there immediately on arrival."

Tigh looked apprehensive as he whispered, "Adama, you're not going to first discuss this with the Council?"

Adama shook his head and whispered back, "Tigh, most of the Council Members already want us to do this, so if we take it to the Council for a vote, we'll pass it, but it may take quite some time as we debate it to death, and then the other members may vote for the additional 'local exploration' that's been discussed in recent cycles. By giving them what they want, we shield the fleet from what could be the more dangerous of their desires."

Tigh nodded at the analysis as Adama continued, "Work will be conducted for a maximum of 21 cycles or until the deposits are exhausted, whichever comes first. At that time, we absolutely must depart this system to continue our escape from the Cylons and our search for the Thirteenth Colony."

Adama paused for a moment and Tigh looked on questioningly. "Is there...something else, Commander?"

Adama hesitated, seemingly lost in thought for another moment before answering, but then replied, "Yes, Captain Apollo and Lieutenant Sheba should be returning shortly from their furlon on Beta. Please have them report to my ready room when they get back."

 _'***_

 _About that same time on the Prison Barge in high orbit around Beta:_

Officer Finlay was making his rounds, checking each cell and confirming that the prisoner or prisoners were inside. When he reached Baltar's, he was surprised to find the former Council member standing there looking out into the corridor as if waiting for him.

"Do you need something, Baltar?"

The prisoner smiled at him with that look that always made Finlay think of a serpent glaring at an avion's egg. "Officer Finlay, so nice to see you, as always. How are you? Your sealmate and fosters?"

Finlay frowned. "I'd be doing better if I was there with them rather than wasting time standing here. Did you need something or not?"

"Good sir, I'm sorry, I didn't by any means wish to waste your time."

Finlay raised a rather perturbed eyebrow. "Well?"

"Oh, yes. I was looking through the list of articles that can be checked out from the prison library." He held up a small folded paper between two fingers and held it out to Baltar through one of the holes in the door. "If you don't mind, just a couple of things..."

Finlay took the paper and after a brief look, nodded. "Yeah, I guess. I'll take care of it for you."

Baltar gave a small wave that Finlay interpreted as thanks, but which, in Baltar's mind was purely a sign of dismissal. As the blackshirt passed from his view, he thought to himself, 'Oh, Officer Finlay, you surely will, and in more ways than you know..."

'***

As if sitting in on the senior staff meeting a little earlier wasn't bad enough, Starbuck was now at his desk looking at the paperwork in front of him, trying to keep his eyes from crossing. While he'd taken on a lot more of the responsibility of helping run Blue Squadron over the past couple of yahrens and attended the meeting fairly frequently, it still wasn't anywhere close to his favorite activity. "A two-engine Viper with one turbolaser versus a half dozen Raiders would be more fun than this," he groused. "Apollo makes it look almost effortless; leave it to him to take off on furlon and leave it all to me," he complained.

"Uh, Sir, is there something I can help with?" asked Lieutenant Varcan, the squadron's executive officer looking in from the doorway.

Looking up at him, Starbuck nodded. "Well, Varcan, now that you mention it, I suppose it really wouldn't be a bad idea for you to go through these forms I've completed so you'll be familiar with all of them. Then, you can fill out the bottom stack based on what you've seen in the first ones. We need to make sure all of these are done before Apollo gets back a little later today. I'll, ah, review them when you're done before he gets back."

Varcan, knowing of Starbuck's relative dislike for paperwork of basically any kind and his preference to be doing almost anything else, suppressed a smile as he agreed to the arrangement. He had, after all, created a couple of the forms to make his job easier in helping Apollo track Warrior flight performance and other squadron issues.

With the paperwork off his desk, Starbuck took a little puff on his fumarello, and then turned to read Jolly's report on Alpha Three Squad's activities at the southern polar region. The trainees, newly promoted to the rank of Cadet, were dealing with their friend's death as well as they could and doing their best to learn everything that Jolly and the training crew were throwing at them in the cold environment. Starbuck, remembering his experience on the Ice Planet, briefly shivered at the thought. The cadets were glad to have Walrach back as their leader, but were tracking Jenena's progress and sending many good wishes to her as she recovered and did her therapy. Doctor Salik had already scheduled her next operation, with hopes of her regaining full dexterity in her hand in the near future.

The vid monitor sounded and Starbuck was happy to see Cassie's face appear on the screen. Following the incident with Jenena, Salik had her continue as the head resident of the New Hope Life Station. It was more great experience for her, but it meant that they wouldn't be able to spend any more time together until the fleet left the Timorala system.

"Hi, beautiful!" he said. "I've missed you so much!"

"Oh, Starbuck, I've missed you, too! But I have great news, I've spoken with Melikie the flower lady and she's been helping me so much on our seal ceremony. If you put in a seal request, we can have the ceremony here on the planet before we leave! Oh! I'm sorry, emergency coming in! I've got to g-"

"Love you, too," said Starbuck disappointedly to the now blank screen, missing her already. Her announcement was a shock to him, though. They hadn't discussed a date for their sealing ceremony, so he was surprised at Cassie's proposed plan to hold it so soon. Suddenly, he felt another shiver pass through him. As he did, he hoped it was from thoughts of the cadets doing their cold weather training or his time on the Ice Planet, and not something more ominous from within himself.

'***

 _At approximately that same time, far away in System D493852R-H877132C (known as the Ronari system in the Colonial star map) aboard the Cylon task force's command ship:_

As he walked the Cylon commander's long burgundy colored cape swished lightly behind him, with lights along the corridor reflecting off of his shiny gold plating with its burgundy accents. The commander's IL-series aide shuffled along behind him as quickly as he could, with the lights of his brain pan casting an additional eerie glow over some of those same reflective surfaces. Of course, the clumping of the two centurions behind them drowned out most of the quieter sounds.

"Excuse me, Commander Maximius, but I do not exactly see how NOT finding the Galactica and its fleet in this system is really a good thing?"

"Flavian," replied the former Centurion M742L955-61B, who upon receiving the command rank had finally taken an official name that he felt worthy of his new status, "of course it would have been good to find and put an end to them here, but by not finding them, we have added another data point to their pattern, making it easier to predict their future location in the near term."

"But, now that we know what we seek, we have found a number of the meteorological devices, the bread crumbs as you called them, on a number of planets. Looking at the dispersal, the human fleet could be practically anywhere," reasoned the IL robot.

"True, but the humans are trying to throw us off, so they're scattering their breadcrumbs in a wide pattern. It is possible that this is a diversion and they plan to go a completely different direction, but look at the energy and resources used to do this. They're not putting these devices out there so we can find them. They're putting them out there for an important reason, or they'd have just skipped all of these planets," he said with a wave as a holographic 3-dimensional star map appeared in front of him. "If they had been able to skip them without leaving the clues, they would have done so to greatly reduce our chance of catching them. Now, while it is still possible that they might slip away again, we have our best chance."

As Maximius looked at the map shimmering in front of him, his second brain was rapidly calculating projected paths and probabilities using the same data stored in his memory banks. Flavian looked on and did his own calculations, but saw nothing significant in the outcome.

When he was done, Maximius waved his hands over the star map and a green zig-zag appeared to connect each of the systems where the Colonial devices had been found. "Assuming that these were placed by either the human fleet acting as a group or by a single ship within the fleet prior to the fleet's arrival, this is the most efficient course that would have been used to place the devices. If we have missed other devices in outlying systems, then this course could be incorrect, but we must act on the information we have and what we can predict from that, not on suppositions about what else might be."

Flavian watched as Maximius continued. Star system after star system suddenly turned black, remaining in the pattern but essentially disappearing from primary view. "These," continued Maximius, "are the systems we've searched in recent sectars, either ships of the Empire or ships of our own task force. If we plot outgoing cones from each of these and then do a weighted analysis, we can calculate the most probable outgoing course."

A new, darker cone appeared among the others, and moments later, four lines appeared within that, with each line connecting several systems. "Flavian, issue this to each of my other three group commanders. We will follow these courses, clearing each system as we go. My own group will end here in System D493868R-H877174C by the time shown. My other groups will join us there following completion of their courses." _  
_

Flavian bowed slightly as he said, "By your command." He quickly issued the orders, and soon, all four groups were on their way to their first assigned system. As Flavian reviewed the orders, he had no way of knowing that System D493868R-H877174C was known to the Colonials by the name Timorala.

The End

'***

 ** _Author's Note:_**

 _I hope you've enjoyed this story in my classic Battlestar Galactica series as much as I've enjoyed writing it. **P** **lease take a moment to leave a brief review to let me know your thoughts on it, especially if you'd like to see this series continue. Your feedback will be greatly appreciated!**_

 _Many thanks to GymMom(2) who has offered valuable and encouraging feedback as this was being written._

 _As you read in this and recent chapters, some of the plot lines started in this episode were left hanging. This was intentional since they are planned to carry over and be the primary focus points of the next story in the series._ _I hope to see you there soon!_

 _Thanks!_

 _VST_


End file.
